“I think you’re looking for excitement,” he said. “But you’re not going to find it with those men on Zapp.”

I didn’t contradict his statement. No one lit me on fire like Devraj. “Excitement, yes. But I was hoping to find more than that.”

He stared, silver eyes blazing, his thoughts seeming to whirl as he catalogued my features.

“I could give you more.” Whether Devraj was capable of anything more, I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t already willing to take whatever he had to offer.

“While you’re here, you mean?” His brown eyes glinted with silver, but I went on before he could respond, placing a hand on his chest. “Look, I want to be totally honest. After our first night, I didn’t want to do it again or let it go any farther with you, because I was afraid.”

“Of me?” His hand spread over mine, pressing hard. His heart drummed erratically beneath my palm.

“No, not of you. More of myself really.” I gave a little laugh. “Of letting my feelings grow too strong before you had to leave.”

He licked his lips, drawing my gaze to his luscious mouth. “Isadora, I feel…” He cleared his throat and started again. “I enjoy being with you. Shit, that sounds so small compared to what I’m trying to say.” The raw vulnerability in his expression had me gulping hard. He was being serious. So intensely serious. “I don’t want to waste any more time. I would never disrespect you or hurt you—”

“I know that,” I assured him. “And I’ve thought about it. I can handle this, the intimacy. I’m a big girl.” My smile was shaky, much like my nerves. But I couldn’t deny what I wanted anymore.

His heated brown eyes intensified as he caressed my face, zoning in on my mouth.

“So what I think you’re saying is, let’s not waste any more time.” He hovered closer, his hard chest pressing into mine. “Is that the wonderful news you’re telling me right now?”

“If I said yes, what would we do first?” I asked, my voice a breathy whisper.

His mouth brushed mine as he murmured against my lips, “I’ll lick you and fuck you till you come so hard you pass out wherever I take you.”

My knees buckled. He gripped my waist.

His lips brushed, coaxed, eased my mouth wider. “Tell me yes, Isadora.” He nipped again, sucking on my bottom lip before he scraped a fang along it. “Tell me you want that.”

I moaned when he pressed his mouth heavier to mine, sweeping in with his tongue. The tease of his piercing as it trailed along my tongue made me see stars.

Pulling back, he pressed his forehead to mine. “Tell me you want me.” There was earnest desperation in his plea.

“For how long?” I needed some sort of parameters. I couldn’t just go headlong into this without having some sort of boundaries. Or end date. If I could control that, then maybe I could keep my emotions in check. Maybe.

“For as long as we’ve got.” He skimmed his lips up my jaw to my neck, sipping at my skin, making me dizzy. “Say yes.”

I clutched at his T-shirt, wondering if I could really do this and keep my heart intact. I mean, sex was sex. I’d been able to compartmentalize it in the past. But none of my past lovers had managed to invade my heart. They also weren’t the kind of lover that Devraj was. Could I become his temporary lover and be fine with it when he left?

Knowing this was the biggest mistake ever, but completely unable to resist him, I murmured “yes” against his shoulder where I’d let my head fall.

He gripped my head with both hands, lifted and cradled gently, then he slanted his mouth over mine for a deep, penetrating kiss. I groaned at the intensity, especially when he pressed his hard body fully to mine. Chest to breasts, hard cock to my pelvis, thick muscular thighs to mine, his mouth devouring me with deep strokes of his pierced tongue.

Jesus, I was a pool of burning need.

By the time he pulled away, I was clinging to him to keep upright. He’d pressed one thigh between my legs to steady me, inching up the hem of my dress.

“Let’s start tonight,” he said, fiery eyes boring into mine.

“Okay,” I agreed, suddenly shy.

Then I was tossed over his shoulder caveman style, and we disappeared from Magazine Street, reappearing on his doorstep seconds later. Only I knew vampires couldn’t disappear. He’d just traced with me so fast I barely blinked before we’d moved several blocks. The sudden dizziness when he righted me had me falling back against the wall next to his back door.

“Sorry,” he said, fitting his key into the lock.

“In a hurry?” I asked on a laugh.

“You have no idea.”

He wasn’t laughing.

Chapter 24

~DEVRAJ~

Slow down, slow down, slow down.

I had to repeat the mantra, but it wasn’t working. I wanted inside her right fucking now. It felt like an eternity since I’d touched her. Tasted her.

As soon as we were through the door, I slammed it shut and pressed her into the wall in the foyer, swallowing her little moan when I delved in for a deep kiss, skimming my hands over her body. Her breasts, waist, hips. I slid my mouth down the slender column of her throat, loving the taste of her, the rapid fluttering of her pulse against my tongue. I slid one hand up her thigh and under her skirt, then dipped between her legs and into her panties.

“Fuck, Isadora,” I growled. “So wet already.”

She fisted a hand in my hair. Fucking right. My tigress was back. I fingered her slick cleft and sucked on her pulse till she was breathing good and hard. Dropping to my knees, I lifted the hem of her dress. “Hold this.”

She gripped it with one hand, the other still in my hair, her breath ragged in the quiet space. Holding her gaze, I slid her panties down her legs, slipping off her sandals at the same time.

Skating my hands up till I gripped the tops of her thighs, I urged her to widen her stance. “Open up for me, love.”

The growl in my throat was practically menacing, but my witch didn’t flinch. No. She tightened her grip in my hair and urged me closer.

I couldn’t keep the grin off my face before I leaned in and licked the sweetest pussy in the whole world.

“God, Devraj,” she panted.

Her knees buckled, but I held her hard and licked her harder, flicking my piercing over her swollen nub.

“I can’t…” Her head fell back to the wall, her pelvis rocking forward to meet my eager mouth.

She was climbing fast, thrusting faster.

“I need, I need it, Devraj.”

She was panting, fisting my hair tight, her body thrumming and wanting to get there. But today I was being selfish. The beastly side of me wanted her to come on my cock alone. I needed to feel her come undone while I was buried deep inside her, and nothing else would satisfy.

When I let her thighs go, she wobbled, but I grabbed her hands and put them on my shoulders to steady her as I stood and reached for my wallet in my back pocket. Her face was flushed, splotched with pink, her mouth agape as she panted, her eyes half-lidded.

“Please don’t stop,” she begged, a little sluggish and slow to respond.

“Not planning on it.” I had the condom in hand then unzipped my jeans and freed my cock.

“You were prepared,” she commented with a hint of sarcasm. “Someone was sure he’d get lucky.”

“Hoping, Isadora.”

The condom rolled on, I gripped her by the waist and lifted her, pressing my chest to hers, trapping her body between me and the wall. She wrapped her legs around my waist right before I notched my cock at her entrance. Her eyes widened as I gripped her thighs and thrust in with one deep slide.

My lips pressed to hers, still holding her gaze, I whispered, “Always hoping.”

Then I moved in her slick heat, the sound and smell of sex pushing my limits of control. I almost laughed at myself. Control? I’d lost it the minute she’d said yes.

I needed to pump deeper. Harder. So I did and buried my mouth against her neck, inhaling her sweet skin as I licked and nipped every inch I could. The desire to bite her, mark her, spun my head like a top. Growling deep, I scraped my canines down the slope of her shoulder. “I want to bite you.”

She cradled my head closer, but said, “Don’t bite me.”

“I want all of you, Isadora.” I pulled back on my thrusts, moving with intense slowness. I licked the sweet beat of her pulse. “Let me take all of you.”

She shook her head, rolling her pelvis, urging me to speed up. “Not yet.”

Yet? I groaned at the very idea she was considering it.

“Move, damn you,” she demanded, clawing her nails against my nape and scalp.

“With pleasure, love.”

I fucked her fast and deep, sliding one hand between us to rub circles around her slick clit. She squeezed her thighs tighter, panting harder until she came while crying out my name. That was it for me. I drove deep while her sex pulsed around me, dragging my orgasm out of me a few pumps afterward.

I speared her one last time, crushing my mouth to hers as I came hard, kissing the fuck out of her, not near ready for this to end. Unable to hold back my thoughts, I whispered in her ear with a nip on her lobe, “Not ready to let you go yet.”

She laughed, the sound making my heart clench tight in my chest. “Then don’t.”

Two hours later, we’d made it to the living room and no further. Once more, we were on the white rug, which I’d had cleaned since last time, curled up with a blanket and a plate of grapes, cheese, and olives that I’d put together quickly for us. I knew she hadn’t eaten with her date. I would’ve paused to cook something more, but last time when she was left alone with her thoughts too long she’d made a quick escape. I didn’t want her to leave. Ever.

I couldn’t ignore the nauseous sinking sensation I’d gotten when I saw her on a date with that guy tonight. He wasn’t a buffoon or fool like the other one. He was actually potential dating material, and the very thought had made me want to scream, punch something, and weep all at the same time. If that wasn’t an eye-opener, then my uncontrollable need to pound into her the second we crossed the threshold of my doorway did the trick.