Page 9 of Hot Blooded

He froze.

“Sorry if this is really presumptuous, but, um…what if I laid down?”

Amos’s brows drew together as he pictured Tessa stretched out beneath him while he braced himself over her. It skirted dangerously close to the true extent of what Amos wanted from her. He tried to find a tactful way of saying so. “I’d have to lean over you. You might feel…trapped.”

Tessa flushed. “I wouldn’t feel trapped. I trust you.”

Flattered pride left him momentarily speechless.

“And we ended up laying down last time anyway.” Her flush deepened, but she held his gaze.

His fangs throbbed. His cock twitched. If it hadn’t been two days since he’d had live blood, he’d already be at half mast.

“So we did,” Amos replied, his voice rough. He cleared his throat. “However you’re comfortable. I’d stand on my head, if that’s what you wanted.”

Tessa laughed, a charmingly bubbly sound, her dark eyes glittering with humor. “That won’t be necessary.” She shifted, drawing her legs up onto the settee and lowering herself onto her back. She folded her hands over her abdomen and looked up at Amos expectantly.

Amos gazed down at her, entranced for a moment by the sight of her. She looked soft and warm and sweet. She was the sunshine he would never again witness, brought to him instead in the form of a quietly beautiful woman. Tessa was watching him back, he realized, her gaze soft and unafraid. He needed to touch her, to taste her. Moving slowly, he eased one knee onto the settee and leaned over her, gripping the backrest with one hand and the arm with the other. Tessa swallowed, drawing his eye to the motion of her throat. Her lips parted, the tip of her tongue sweeping over them, wetting them. The urge to kiss her was almost as strong as the bloodthirst.

Amos brought one hand to her face, gently cupping her cheek. Tessa leaned into his touch, tilting her jaw up, exposing her throat to him. Another wave of sweet longing tore through him. Before he could do or say anything stupid, he lowered his mouth to her throat and bit.

Tessa gasped. Her head fell back, giving Amos even more access to her throat. At the first draw of hot, rich blood, she whimpered. On the second, she moaned. He felt her hands brush his chest, sliding up and up until she could circle her arms round his neck. Her thighs parted, inviting him to sink between them. Her breathy moans echoed in his ears as her hips rocked against his. His cock responded, thickening and stiffening with each grinding press of her hot, needy cunt. Soon he was rocking against her in return, using his rigid length to magnify the orgasm his venom was giving her.

Her sobbing breaths had turned rhythmic—some kind of chanting whisper. My name, he realized with a nearly painful jolt of pleasure. This soft, warm, intoxicating woman was gasping his name as she clung to him and climaxed in his arms. It was too much—the sound of her, the feel of her, the taste of her. It all built inside of him like the gathering of thunderclouds. And then like lightning, sharp, white-hot pleasure chased down his spine and exploded outwards.

For the first time in his immortal life, Amos came while feeding. The combined pleasure was greater than anything he’d ever felt before. He lost all sense of himself for a moment, awash only in the overwhelming bliss. It seemed to go on forever, though it could only have been a few seconds. When he came back to himself, his fangs were still buried in Tessa’s throat, her arms still tight around his neck, her hips still rocking against his.

His heart pounded in his ears, his breath sawed raggedly from his lungs as he eased his bite from her skin. A tremor ran down his back as he lapped gently at the healing wounds. Tessa gradually went languid and limp beneath him. At last her eyes opened. She looked up at him with an easy, blissed-out smile that made his heart twist.

Their faces were only inches apart, noses practically touching. It would be so easy to close the distance and kiss her. He thought maybe something in Tessa’s expression suggested it wouldn’t be unwelcome. But he couldn’t trust himself to make that call. He wanted it too badly to put any stock in hunches and maybes. Forcing himself to do the right thing, he drew back. Tessa let him go, swinging her arms over her head and arching her back in a stretch that was too erotic for his addled brain. He couldn’t stop himself from staring.

When she relaxed back down against the cushions, Tessa cocked one eyebrow at him, still smiling. “So, it seemed like maybe you got more out of that than usual?”

Thanks to Tessa, he was once again capable of blushing. His face flooded with heat. “Yes.”

She let out a smug little chuckle. “Am I that good?”

“You have no idea,” Amos told her sincerely. He shifted backwards, out of the cradle of her thighs, losing the last bit of contact with her. “I’ll be right back.”

He took advantage of his vampiric speed and raced to his bedroom, changing into a clean pair of briefs before he rinsed his mouth out. Satisfied that he was no longer a mess, he went to the kitchen to gather food and drinks for Tessa. Back in the sitting room, he found her kneeling before the coffee table, nose pressed into the floral arrangement.

She looked up at him. “New flowers today?” The arrangement was a riot of purple, pink, and blue flowers, colors that made him think of summer meadows

“Of course,” he answered simply. He’d taken note of her bashful joy on Wednesday when she’d realized the flowers were for her. Going forward, he had every intention of welcoming her with a new arrangement at every visit.

Tessa slid back onto the settee as Amos sat down. He spread the snacks across the coffee table and glanced over at her as she leaned forward to peruse them. His bite mark was already closing over. By the time she left there’d only be faint pink marks. By the time she reached her workplace, it’d be gone entirely.

Tessa chose an energy bar and sat back with it, settling in like she had nowhere else to be. How long until she decided she had to go? Amos resisted the urge to glance at the clock. If she saw, she’d think he wanted her to leave.

“Can I ask a nosy question?” Tessa asked as she peeled the energy bar wrapper open.

“Sure,” he replied easily. He couldn’t imagine what she could ask that would have a worse answer than the things he’d already revealed to her.

“How old are you? I mean, how old were you when you were turned?”

Amos hesitated. He knew he was being foolish and vain, especially considering his actual age was in the triple-digits, but he didn’t want to reveal his mortal age only to find out that Tessa was far younger. “Forty-two,” he said. “In February, 1918.”

“Oh, wow. You just missed the Spanish Flu.”

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