TEN
“So this is where you live?”
“No, I just decided to break into a place, find something you would think was impressive.”
“Very funny. Aren’t you going to give me a tour?”
“I can, if you like. But first, something I’ve been wanting to do since I first laid eyes on you trying to duck and cover from Lucas and his strange ways.”
Delaney felt her pulse quicken, her breath coming so rapidly and shallow she was almost unsure as to whether she was really breathing at all. Her face still felt flushed from the car ride over and she wondered if he could tell how turned on she still was. Far from satiating her appetite for Jack, the little stint in the car had merely acted as an appetizer.
She wanted him more than ever. She wanted all of him, not in the cramped confines of his fancy vehicle but in a place where she could truly appreciate him and could get her hands on him instead of the whole thing being one sided. Still, she felt weird being led into his apartment and doing nothing but getting down to business.
She wasn’t the type for a one-night stand. The closest she’d ever gotten to something like that was her little sleepover with Dale, and that whole thing had been strictly PG. Because she had zero experience with this sort of thing, she felt beyond awkward just throwing herself at him as soon as they made it through his front door.
Her questions were a rather pitiful attempt at small talk, which Jack was apparently having none of. Even as she opened her mouth to continue babbling on about god alone knew what, he raised a finger and placed it over her lips.
“Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?”
She nodded her head slowly because, in reality, she’d been told that by more than one guy she was interested in and therefore didn’t know how to act like a normal human being around.
So she wasn’t surprised by the comment, but what she was surprised by was the thing he did afterwards. She shouldn’t have been, not after the things he had done to her in the car, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t. With a guy as crazy good looking as Jack Swells, Delaney thought she would be surprised any and every time she was lucky enough to have his hands on her. He was that stunning to look at.
“Good,” he growled, “now why don’t you stop, let me take care of things for a while?”
She nodded again and, before she could even fully register what was happening, his finger moved away from her mouth and was promptly replaced by his lips. The moment they touched hers, she was overwhelmed by the sensation of falling.
Not a bad kind of falling, not the kind one should be afraid of, but a kind of falling that felt like she was sinking deep into the person she was kissing. His lips took ownership of her, possessed her fully and rendered her helpless to do anything but kiss him back. They were strong and full and sure and when he tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth, she let out a little moan.
They hadn’t even moved out of the foyer of his incredibly impressive looking loft, and already he had her in a position where she felt like she was going to lose control of herself completely.
Backed up against the wall of his entryway because that was as far as they had made it, she felt her knees begin to buckle beneath her. It was the kind of thing she would only have believed possible in books or movies, nothing that happened to a girl in real life, except that now it was. She was actually going to lose her balance and possible topple over and embarrass herself completely.
She was sure she really would have it hadn’t been for Jack’s strong arms wrapping around her waist and holding her upright. He took her in those arms and pinned her against his body, so tightly that she could feel his every muscle rippling.
She could feel the length of him ready and waiting for her, too, which only caused her to gasp again. Even if she had wanted to tell him they were moving too fast, which she had absolutely no desire to do, she didn’t think she would have been able to.
Everything was happening so quickly and all she wanted was to be present enough to remember every single detail. As she thought this to herself, desperate to feel all of him at once, his tongue parted her lips and slipped into her mouth, the taste of him flooding her senses and making her body feel as if it was on fire.
Without being aware of it, her hips had begun to rock against his, desperate for the friction that would bring her to another glorious climax. As she moved against him, he let out a low growl that sounded like it came from somewhere deep in the back of his throat. It should have scared her, terrified her, even, considering what he was. It didn’t. If anything, it only made her desire for him multiply until it felt as though it were infinite.
“Do you still want that tour?” he whispered into her ear, his breath moving against the inside of her neck.
“No! No, just take me. Please, Jack, just take me.”
That was all the confirmation he needed, and before she had even stopped speaking he was lifting her into the air, carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all. She wrapped her legs around his waist, plunging her hands into his thick, unruly hair as they moved together as one towards the bedroom.
It was only a few yards away from where they had entered the loft, and still she wasn’t sure she would be able to wait that long. She bent her head forward, nibbling on his earlobe and licking along the line of his neck. She could feel the way his body responded to her, feel how he reacted to each and every touch, and she was sure it would drive her mad.
The walk to the bed felt like an eternity, and yet when he laid her out on it, she felt a sense of loss where his limbs had just been. She didn’t want him to stop touching her. She didn’t want him to ever stop touching her, but for things to go on and on between them for the rest of her life.
“These are very silly jeans, you know. I don’t know why women started wearing them.”
“Because they’re comfortable?”
“Maybe,” he mused, looking down at her with a faint smile on his face, “but I have a feeling things would be more comfortable for us both if they were removed. Correct me if I’m wrong, and I’ll leave them right where they are.”
“No, I think you’re right. I’m sure you’re right.”
His smile widened as he bent forward, tugging her pants off with no effort at all. He threw them aside, then used his hands to spread her legs apart. He pushed her further up his bed, then crawled on after her, positioning himself between those legs.
“What are you doing?” she panted, her senses all heightened in the extreme darkness of his room.
“I want to taste you. I want the taste of you to fill my mouth completely.”
Nobody had ever said anything like that to her before and for a minute she was pretty sure she was going to start laughing, just like she did every time she was uncomfortable or didn’t know how to handle a situation, but the laughter dried up the second she felt his lips on her inner thighs.
The laughter dried up immediately and she held her breath, waiting to see which trail he decided to travel. His mouth moved slowly, so slowly it felt like torture, moving from one trajectory to another so that she was never quite sure what he wanted to do to her.
As he made his achingly slow progress, he nipped and licked at her skin, deepening the fire inside of her each time he did so. By the time he got to that quivering space between her legs, she felt like a loaded gun ready to go off. When his tongue lapped over the filmy fabric of her thong, she let out a cry she would later be sure the neighbors could have heard through their wall.
At the moment, however, she couldn’t have cared less. All she cared about was the delicious friction he was creating, the rising heat in her body. Her hands moved down to his head, her fingers twining themselves through his hair and tugging on it reflexively. That only seemed to inflame his passion for her further, and as he pushed her legs apart further with one hand, he tugged her thong aside with the other.
The sensation of his tongue lapping against her clit was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It wasn’t like she’d never been with a guy before, nor that she’d never had one go down on her. It was just that never before had it felt so fucking good.
The way his tongue and his fingers worked, it was like he could read her mind, like he knew exactly how she wanted to be worked over before she was even aware of it herself. And the way he teased her was maddening! He would bring her right to the edge, right to the brink, and then he’d move his tongue somewhere else. He would slacken his pace, move his area of focus, anything to bring her back down again. It was like riding a roller coaster with many peaks and valleys that never seemed to end. After hardly any time of him doing that at all, she felt like she would lose her mind if he didn’t keep going.
As if to convey this to him, she raked her nails through his hair, like she could signal to him that she couldn’t take anymore. He must have read that thought, too, because after she thought it, the teasing portion of the experience stopped.
This time, his tongue found her sweet spot and did not stop. He was relentless, licking her in sure, fluid motions until her back arched up off the bed, her hips bucking with her helpless to control them. She could feel the pleasure beginning in the tips of her toes, then felt it move up her limb speedily until the feeling converged in one blinding, shattering climax that shook her to the core.
It seemed to last forever, too, her body writhing and shaking, rocked with the force of what she was feeling. When the sensation finally began to recede, she found that she was actually pulling Jack up toward her, willing herself to have the strength to put him into the position she wanted him in.
He laughed then, rearing up on his knees and looking down at her. His substantial length was there waiting for her, which only made her body writhe more, only made her want him more. It seemed that no amount of him was enough to satisfy her. Everything he gave her, every touch, only made her want more. Her appetite for this man was insatiable and she wondered if she would ever feel that she had gotten her fill.
“What do you think, had enough yet?”
“Not even close,” she panted, rising up on her elbows to get a better look at him. “I want more. I want all of you.”
“Be careful what you wish for.”
She should have stopped to wonder why he would say a thing like that, to question whether or not the choices she was currently making were in any way dangerous for her, but she didn’t do anything of the kind. Instead she reached for him, wanting to feel his flesh beneath her fingertips, and sighing with relief when she felt him lower the weight of himself on top of her. He was amazingly solid.
She thought it was silly even while she was thinking it, but it felt like he was more solid than other men, like despite what he was he was somehow more real. The thing she noticed directly after that was his scent.
He smelled like spices she couldn’t identify. He smelled like a cold winter’s evening with a fire full of cedar wood burning. He smelled like all the things she had longed for and never known how to put into words.
“Is it okay?”
“Yes. Oh, yes.”
“Are you sure? I’m not hurting you?”
She was surprised by his tenderness. It wasn’t something she would have expected from any man, least of all a vampire. His awareness of her was astonishing. Even though she was already stripped naked, his body totally eclipsing her, it made her feel even more vulnerable than she had before he spoke.
It was frightening, but it was also an aphrodisiac. She lifted her hands to his face and caressed it, smiling as he closed his eyes and nuzzled into the palm of her hand.
“I’ll make you a deal. If you start to hurt me, I’ll let you know. I promise, okay? If I don’t say anything, I’m still enjoying myself.”
She heard the same low growl emitting from his throat, sending another thrill up the back of her spine. Instinctively she drew her legs up, her knees almost by her ears, just in time to feel Jack slide his member inside of her, filling her up completely.
She moaned, her head rocking back and forth from side to side, her arms reaching around and holding onto his back for dear life. His hips drew back, then forward again, the girth of him sliding almost completely out of her and then plunging back in.
He did this again, stopped, again. Slowly, so slowly she almost couldn’t stand it, he began to establish a rhythm. With no effort at all, her hips matched the rocking of his until they moved together in perfect synchronicity, her breath catching in her throat and then coming out in another loud moan. All of her senses were filled with him so that nothing else in the world mattered.
Nothing but their two bodies writhing together and the feel of his lips on hers, of his teeth grazing her lip again. Even when he bit it, hard enough to draw blood this time, she did not hesitate or second guess what she was doing. If anything, she threw herself into it even more. His body was different than a regular man’s, colder and so much stronger, but she wasn’t afraid. She wanted him and that feeling trumped all others.
“Oh god,” she almost shrieked, “keep going. God, keep going, don’t stop!”
In one fluid motion, he flipped the both of them so that she was on top of him, riding him like some kind of an adult carnival ride. She planted her palms on either side of his head, leaning forward so that her breasts grazed his chest as she pumped her hips slowly, provocatively. Now it was his turn to moan, his hands coming up and cupping her breasts in his palms, their chilliness making her nipples hard as rock.
She would have thought it would be an unpleasant sensation, but it was anything but. Combined with the warmth her own body was creating, it was actually kind of delicious. So was the angle his shaft was hitting her now, now that she was in control of the pace and depth. Her hips moved faster, her hair flying around them both in wild tangles, until she knew she was right on the brink of the finale she was looking for.
She threw herself back, her back arched and her hands steadying themselves on his chest, her hips having lost all sense of control at this point. It was going to happen, she was going to come, and when Jack placed his finger back on her clit her body lifted off with the force of the orgasm ripping through her body. For Delaney, in that moment, time stopped. The only thing in the universe that existed was her and the man inside of her, and that was the way she liked it.
Even though it was a pleasure so intense it was almost painful, she wanted it to go on forever. She felt Jack tense inside of her, felt him letting go, and then he let out a rough yell and slapped both of his hands on her ass.
Just those two things were enough to send a whole new wave of pleasure through her body and the two of them remained that way together for what felt like a long, long time. It was only when her body felt too exhausted to even hold itself up any longer that she rolled off him. She lay there on her back, feeling fuzzy and sort of dazed, looking up at his ceiling and watching the lights from the streets far below Jack’s loft play across his stark white ceiling. It felt like watching a movie in a language she didn’t know with missing subtitles. She didn’t quite catch the meaning of it, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
She probably would have stayed that way for a long time, just watching the world outside moving across the canvas of the ceiling, if it hadn’t been for Jack’s voice breaking the peaceful silence. She was actually startled by the sound and her body gave a little jump, which in turn drew a little chuckle out of Jack.
“What’s the matter, you afraid of me now?”
“Um, no. No way. Don’t flatter yourself, mister.”
“Well, if you aren’t afraid, why so far away?”
“Did you want me closer?”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea, no.”
Feeling giddier than she would ever have admitted to Jack in the off chance that he asked, she slithered closer to him, fitting herself into the crook of his arm and nuzzling her face into his neck. It was astonishing that he could still feel so cold, especially when her whole body felt like it was on the verge of overheating.
She took one hand and began tracing her fingers curiously along the lines of his chest, across his ribs, down to his hip bones. She traced along scars that looked like they had been there for decades, then angled her face so that she could look him in the eyes. They were trained on the ceiling, exactly the same way that hers had been before he had spoken to her and drawn her in closer.
“These scars. You’ve got a lot of them.”
“Yes, I guess I do.”
“How’d you get them?”
“That would depend on which one you’re talking about. They came in different ways, different places. I can’t say that I honestly remember the origin story for most of them. It was so long ago.”
“Was it?”
“It was. They all came from before, I can tell you that.”
“Huh. That’s funny, somehow I wouldn’t have thought that.”
“They would have to. We don’t scar, not after we’re turned. Our bodies heal themselves at impressive rates. We’re like frozen specimens, locked in time whether we want to be or not.”
“And what about you? Do you want to be?”
“Sometimes. I do now. This is the most interested in sticking around I’ve been in a long while.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“That’s nice. I don’t know if you’re just trying to flatter me, but it’s still nice.”
He pulled her in tighter, tight enough so that she knew he didn’t want her going anywhere. They conversation between them stopped and as it drew on, she could feel her lids growing heavy with sleep that would not be ignored. She didn’t want to fall asleep. She wanted to soak up every single second of being with him, but her body wasn’t like his
Her body wasn’t trapped or preserved as anything and even though she fought it with a valiant effort, before long she was fast asleep. When she awoke, she found that she was alone. She sat up cautiously, blinking in the harsh sunlight streaming through walls that were made up almost entirely of windows.
“Jack? Hey, Jack, you still here?”
Nothing but silence. It was the kind of silence that only came when one was truly alone and although she drew the sheet up around her and stepped gingerly onto the floor to see if she could find him, Delaney knew that Jack was nowhere in the loft.
When she made it to the kitchen, she found a note addressed to her. Beside it was a wad of cash that made her eyes grow wide with surprise and dismay. She read the note, wondering if Jack had meant to treat her like a hooker or if it was just an accident.
Delaney,
I can’t tell you have wonderful it was getting to know you last night. Exploring your body was the most interesting thing I’ve done in the last fifty years. Unfortunately, I’ve had to run. Please forgive me for the abrupt abandonment and for leaving you without a ride back to your vehicle. Please accept this money for cab fare. I’ll be looking for you in The Blood, lovely girl. Hope to see you around.
She read the note once, twice, even a third time, trying to decide how she felt. She supposed she should have been sort of angry, but what she actually felt was a strong desire to see him again.