Page 73 of Hot Blooded

“Beg me not to,” he said, voice rough with morning rustiness.

“Please don’t!” she said, fingers curling into the sheets.

“But I’m going to,” he purred against her ear. “Why don’t you just try to enjoy it?”

“No! Stop!”

He spread her thighs with his knee and pushed his cock into her slick, eager pussy. She stretched around him, groaning as he filled her, hips arching up to take all of him.

“Please don’t do this,” she whimpered as he began to thrust into her.

“I know what’ll change your tune,” he said with cruel pleasure. His lips brushed the nape of her neck.

“No!”

His fangs sank into the unmarked side of her neck. He drank as he fucked her, pumping in and out of her helpless, ecstatic body. When his own climax took him, he shuddered, fangs and cock buried deep, wet heat flooding inside her.

He pulled out and turned her onto her side, holding her in his arms as she rode out the last effects of his venom. His hands stroked over her body with tender sweetness, soothing and worshipping.

“You’re not leaving me anymore,” he told her.

“I don’t want to.”

“I mean, you live here now. Not with your mother.”

“Okay.”

“You—what?” Clearly he’d expected more resistance than that.

“Okay. The upstairs rooms are mine, right?”

Amos didn’t respond right away. After a long stretch of silence, he nuzzled against her, purring. “Yes. Already know what you want to do with them?”

“I want one to be a… sort of a greenhouse. I’ve got a lot of plants that will be moving in here with me.” She hesitated, thinking about the layout of the rooms. “If that can be done?”

“We can have more windows installed in the south-facing room,” Amos answered readily. “What else do you want?”

“I think I want one to be sort of like an art studio.”

“What kind of arts do you do?”

“I don’t actually know how to do any,” she admitted, a little sheepish. “But there are several I’ve always wanted to learn. Like sewing? And maybe pottery?”

Amos made a wordless sound of encouragement. “And the other two rooms?”

She thought for a second. “I’m not sure. Do I have to decide right away?”

“Of course not. They’re there for you, whenever and whatever you decide on.”

They lapsed into a cozy silence for a little longer. After a while, though, Tessa had to ruin it.

“I do have to go back to my mother’s for a little bit tonight.”

Amos’s arms tightened ever so slightly around her.

“I have to tell her about us.”

His hold loosened. “Oh, right. That was supposed to be the final step in properly courting you—getting your family’s approval.”

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