Page 26 of Deadly Cravings

“Delightful, human,” he rasped, releasing me and striding out of the room.

My lips parted and I gawked after him.Well.I needed to get moving, except my limbs weighed a hundred pounds. Liquid tickled my neck and my dress was torn. After a night like this, I needed self-care. A rose scented salt bath, a shopping spree, I didn’t know, justsomethingto distract my frantic mind.

Exhaling shakily, I slumped back. What the fuck was wrong with me? Screwing around with a vampire shouldn’t have happened. I’d avoided them for so long, how could I be so weak?

Tobias stepped into the room and I startled. His lips formed a thin line. My hand trembled as I tried covering myself, but my movements were sluggish.

Tobias tugged a blanket off the seat near the window and strode over to me, wrapping me up in it.

“Thank you,” I muttered.

His jaw tightened. I couldn’t get a read on his thoughts.

I stared at the tip of my shoes hanging over the lip of the wardrobe. His sigh was the only precursor before his arms swept me up. I gasped and wiggled in the hold, my heart racing.

“M-my inhaler.” I coughed and he balanced me with one arm and placed the inhaler on my chest. Since he held me tightly, the blanket pinned my arms to my sides.

Tobias clutched me tighter as he exited the room and strode down the hall, cradling me against his wide chest. I was too tiredto do anything, so I rested my head on his shoulder. Here I was draped against a vampire, not freaking out. My years of running felt pointless, yet at the same time had culminated to this conclusion. Had I run because some deep dark piece of my soul had known I held such perverse desires? I sighed. My writing proclivities didn’t help me out on denying that.

He went a few doors down, to the first one down this hall, and shoved the door open with the tip of his shoe. Not bothering with the light, he moved across the room through the second threshold that opened to a lavish marble bathroom. He balanced me in one arm and turned the water on. The spout sputtered to life and began filling the round tub.

“Are you okay?”

I blinked quickly, trying to find a way to respond.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. The experience with Asher was altering and I wanted to run, which I would be doing if I could move. “I-I need to bathe.”

Tobias set me on my feet and tugged the blanket off me, tossing it into the corner, so he could help slide my clothing off. My face heated but I needed the help, regardless of how embarrassing it was to have him touch me with such ease. I covered my breasts as he lifted me and lowered me into the filling tub. A tremble coursed through my limbs and a knot swelled in my throat.

I should tell him to leave me alone, but the words refused to come out.

He crouched in front of me, running the tip of his finger over my cheek and I stilled, holding my breath. There had been nothing aggressive in his touch, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t kill me with a twitch of his pinky.

Squirting some soap into a loofah, he worked it onto my skin. Tobias’s brows remained furrowed, the pensive expression unwavering as he worked the rough material over my shoulderswith gentle swipes. The way he dragged it over my flesh was impersonal and efficient.

“He’s never lost control.”

So Asher wasn’t lying about that. I’d imagined he’d used it as an excuse to get my guard lowered. After all, morality and vampires were concepts that didn’t coexist. I stayed quiet, trying to swallow my emotions. The encounter played back in my head, warming my entire body with embarrassment. I’d acted crazy and horny.

There had been no reservations in me and I hadn’t cared. I simply wanted. And the catalyst was Asher’s bite.

I wanted to get as far as I could get away from here, but I couldn’t. I needed the vampire’s money. My stomach lurched and I struggled to swallow.

Tobias swept the loofah over my breast, and goose bumps lifted across my arms. My nipples were sensitive, and the slow swipes Tobias did across my flesh weren’t helping. Tobias’s jaw worked and his throat bobbed.

“His eyes were red.” Like the Pale One. I wiggled my toes trying to get movement back; water reached the middle of the tub.

“When we become red-eyed, our conscience is gone. We are true monsters like that, he had no reservations in holding back.”

“Oh,” I whispered. Tobias finished rinsing me down and left the room to fetch me some clothing. I flexed my hands and movement came more easily to me. Getting out of here was my only goal so I pushed out of the water and it sluiced down my skin. A white towel rested on the metal holder and I plucked it to quickly dry myself and then wrapped it around my body, securing it over my breasts.

Waiting for Tobias wasn’t an option. I had to get out of here—now. I skulked to the door, and peeked out, then padded across the wood floors. No one was there so I rushed down thestairs, half-staggering from dizziness. Each of my steps sounded excruciatingly loud to my ears, but it served to spur me on faster.

The front entrance swung behind me as I booked it to my house; without shoes and wrapped in a towel.

There was no way what just happened was real. It had to be some manifestation I’d conjured from my darkest fantasies, but the soreness in my throat told another story. It was horrifying and wrong . . .

And why did I want more of it?

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