Page 21 of Hot Blooded

Tessa turned to reach for her bag. “Will human medical interventions work for a vampire? I’ve got my emergency kit—”

He stopped her with a gentle hand around her wrist. “It’ll heal on its own.”

“Why hasn’t it healed already? Isn’t that one of the perks of being immortal?”

“I’ll heal once I feed. It’s been three days.”

Tessa frowned. “Three days since you’ve had blood? That’s the last time I was here. Why haven’t you been supplementing with bagged blood?”

Amos laughed humorlessly. “How could I?” His hold on her wrist tightened, and he used it to pull her roughly against him.

Tessa gasped, but it wasn’t from fear. Excitement and desire lit up her senses.

“How could I, after having you?” he asked desperately, bending to bury his face against her neck. He inhaled deeply, tongue flicking out to touch her pulse. “Nothing tastes like you, Tessa.” He groaned against her skin, sending goosebumps chasing over her neck and down her spine. “I need it too much, sweetheart. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Tessa brought her hands up to gently cup the back of his neck. The skin there felt undamaged. She slid one hand into his hair, holding him in place, lips pressed to her throat. “I trust you, Amos.”

He let out a low groan, lips parting to press his fangs to her skin. The pressure was just shy of breaking through. After a moment, he pulled back. “Not in the hallway. I’m too weak to hold you up when you turn to jelly.”

Tessa laughed, simultaneously embarrassed and pleased. “Can you make it to the sitting room?”

“If I have to drag myself,” he said with grim determination.

He pushed away from the door, slid stiffly out of his jacket, and began the slow walk down the hall. Tessa kept pace with him, nervously prepared to break his fall. But he made it without issue. He sprawled his broad body onto the settee, laying on his side, and patted the empty space beside him. Tessa sank down, stretching out beside him so that they were face to face.

Amos lifted one hand to her cheek, trailing rough fingertips gently along the side of her face, her jaw, her throat. He turned his hand, fingers resting lightly on the back of her neck, thumb pressed to her pulse. His touch was so soft, so chaste, and yet it hummed with sexual energy.

“Ready?” he asked, his ragged voice practically a growl.

“Yes,” she whispered.

He leaned in, and his lips replaced the touch of his thumb. Heart pounding, Tessa lifted her chin, exposing her throat for him. His lips parted and he nuzzled at her, dragging the tips of his fangs up and down her sensitive skin.

“Amos,” she breathed, her entire body tensing with arousal.

“Mmm…” His tongue pressed hot and wet against her pulse and then his fangs were back, sinking into her in a swift, sharp bite.

“Ah!” Tessa arched against him. His venom hadn’t even begun to spread. The bite alone was enough to send a shock of pleasure through her entire body. Her fingers curled into the front of his shirt while her hips pressed flush to his. Slowly but surely, she felt the drugging spread of his venom warming her veins, humming beneath her skin. Heartbeat by heartbeat, it intensified, coalescing into an ecstatic crescendo that went on and on and on.

In the throes of climax, Tessa was vaguely aware of the hot suction of Amos’s mouth on her throat. She knew her arms had wound around his neck, her thigh thrown over his hip. She felt his erection grow against her inner thigh, constrained behind denim. As he fed, Amos’s hold on her strengthened. He held her tightly, one hand fisting into her hair, keeping her head tilted back as he drew long, dizzying pulls from her veins.

Just as gradually as it began, Tessa felt herself coming back down. Amos was no longer drinking from her. He held her tightly in his arms, face buried against her neck, gently stroking his tongue over the puncture wounds he’d made. Each stroke sent a faint little pulse of pleasure through her veins. She lay limply in his arms, breathing deeply, trembling with satisfied aftershocks. When her breathing evened, Amos drew back slightly to look into her face.

“Oh!” Tessa blinked, surprised by the change in his face. The blisters were gone. All but the deepest of the open sores were now covered with shining, pink, new skin. She reached up, stroking her fingers gently over the healthy-looking skin on his brow and along the sides of his face. “Do you feel better?” she asked.

“Better than I’ve felt in eons.” He pushed up from the settee, moving with an ease that he hadn’t possessed a few minutes ago. “I’ll be right back. Stay here.”

Tessa shifted herself upright, gaze traveling around the tidy sitting room while she waited. Her attention landed on the coffee table, where a fresh new floral arrangement waited. Today it was an all-white ensemble of peonies, roses, gardenias, and snapdragons. She leaned forward, touching a silky petal while something big and overwhelming squeezed in her chest.

Flowers. For her. Every time she visited.

Before she could get too emotional, Amos reappeared, arms laden with snacks and drinks. His face hardly showed any sign he’d been burned. Just a little tightness in the skin, a faint ruddiness still on his chin and nose.

“A drink of blood and you’re practically good as new,” Tessa said, assessing his skin with a nurse’s critical eye.

“I’ll never be new,” Amos said ruefully. He laid the food out on the coffee table. “Here you go. Since my dam was here, she found out about you—”

“Found out what?” Tessa asked nervously. She knew Amos was safe, but she also now knew that not all vampires were.

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