Page 31 of Vampire's Choice

“You are not afraid of me,” he observed, instead of answering. “I want you to be.”

“You’re shit out of luck there. I refuse to fear anything. You’re not answering the question.”

“I don’t answer to you. Would you like to fly?”

“You already took me off my feet at the preserve. You do it again, I’ll stab you wherever I can reach. Won’t really care about where. Only that it will hurt a lot.”

“We were fighting then. Taking you in the air was an advantage. Would you like to fly? For fun?”

The word sounded odd on his lips. Like he wasn’t entirely sure what it meant, but he would give it a go, see what it was like if she was game to try.

She’d wanted to know more about him. Was this his attempt to try to do the same with her? Nothing about him was aboveboard. Any assumptions would be a mistake.

“Which of the cats got you?” she nodded to his shoulder.

“The lion that was with you. He stalked me when I was…distracted by our encounter. I caused him no harm.”

“I know. Why haven’t they healed?” Everything she’d done to him at the fight already had.

“I wanted to keep them longer. A reminder.”

He closed that last step. Her body tightened up at his proximity, all that maleness, his scent, his power, the threat of him. He put his mouth to the round part of her shoulder, the same place the scratches were on his. When his fangs scraped her skin, a passing tease, it made her shiver.

“Turn around, put your arms behind you and grip my belt with both hands. Never fear, little vampire. I’ll have you back in time to meet with Marcellus. Wouldn’t want you to be in trouble with him. You’d enjoy that too much.”

The acid edge warned her, but if she showed fear or avoidance of him, it would only cause her more trouble with him down the road. Best to get this over with up front.

That was what she was telling herself.

“Shove the ‘little vampire’ shit up your condescending ass.” Turning, she reached back, fingers finding his belt and the waistband of the jeans under his untucked shirt. She pushed behind them to grip, her knuckles against the bare, firm skin inside his hip bones. The man didn’t wear underwear. At least not right now. Her thumbs brushed the buckle and tooth. “Don’t mess with me on that. Promise me you’ll get me on the ground in time to meet with Marcellus.”

“I don’t make promises to anyone.”

“It does break the card-carrying dickhead code, doesn’t it?”

A chuckle, that mean note to it, and one arm slid around her waist, the other over her chest, just above her breasts. His hand gripped her opposite shoulder.

She sensed him looking down at her, seeing the way her body fit against his, how her arms being behind her arched her back and pressed the tops of her breasts more firmly against his forearm. He moved the hand on her shoulder to her throat, curving his fingers around it. Her pulse hammered against his palm as her breath slowed, shortened. Stopped.

He was squeezing, yes, but that wasn’t the only reason she reacted that way. She held still, holding everything in, though it was all there, crowding against the gate, so damn eager to come forward, to offer, to give. To serve.

To be with a male who deserved her submission.

He hadn’t come close to proving he had those qualifications, but fuck, he knew all the buttons to push. But so did every vampire male she’d ever encountered. Though they didn’t know she was a submissive, vampire dominance games weren’t limited to human servants. Their whole world was built on a power hierarchy.

“Are we doing this or not?” She was behind that black diamond wall, the question fired at him in a flat tone. He might be able to detect her arousal, but he didn’t command her responses.

“Say please.”

His lips were near her ear, and her eyes half closed when he spoke. He slid his thumb along her carotid, his breath a touch of heat on her cheek. “Ask me to take you flying. I would hear you ask me for something.”

She’d had a tart response for the ‘say please,’ but there was a note to the rest that pulled from a deeper level. His grip on her throat loosened, fingertips exploring the sensitive skin along her jaw. She moistened her lips. She almost dipped her head toward his touch, asking for more. She didn’t do that, but allowed herself to indulge the other desire. To obey his demand to hear her ask.

“I’d like to fly. Will you take me?”

He moved his hand back to her shoulder. “I will.”

He took off, stealing her breath at how fast they ascended. She felt no strain from holding on. The strength of his arms carried her, and once he was high enough, he rolled back at an angle where she reclined against him, staring at the sky and the horizon.

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