Page 64 of Felonies are Forever

And suddenly, I realize I’ve never known true happiness. True joy. I want to freeze this moment and live in it forever, her heart beating against mine, our bodies as close as two people can be, her virgin blood spilled on the sheets below us.

Eternity could never be long enough for me. I’ll never get enough of her.

ELEVEN

Seleme

“It’s not up for negotiation.”Maxim’s dark eyes leave no room for retort.

Terror grips my throat, knowing what I’m about to do will put us all in danger but realizing there’s no possible way I can go through with the marriage.

Not after what Maxim and I just did.

What we shared.

I swallow hard, the ache between my legs reminding me with every move what I’ve done. Maxim’s seed soaks my underwear, my outer clothing torn to rags so I wear his white dress shirt, my torn skirt held up by his belt, as we head down the stairs toward the front door on our way to the mansion, where we’ll try to explain to my parents and the Messinas that there will be no wedding tonight. Come what may, I will be with Maxim. I’m bound to him. I feel it, down deep in my soul.

And I will do whatever it takes to protect my family from harm, but I won’t marry as expected.

I feel my power building. Should I try to explain to Maxim that the woman he loves may, after midnight tonight, become a bloodthirsty vampire unable to control her bloodlust?

Uh, yeah, that’s sort of only fair.

That thought knots my belly, because what if he can’t handle that part of me? What if I can’t handle that part of me? What if, after all this, he is repulsed by what I am?

What if I kill him to satisfy my thirst?

I thought of telling him after we’d made love for the third time and some oxygen returned to my brain.

But I just couldn’t. How can I? What are the right words?

My heart thunders in my chest, the anxiety building, not just because I’m about to refuse to give myself to Alberto Messina and bring the wrath of the most militant vampire clan down upon my whole family, but because even if we survive I could very well lose Maxim simply because of who I am.

What I am.

A hot flush covers me as I think of all the ways Maxim touched me, and I know that whatever happens in the next few minutes, it was worth it. It’s more than just the physical pleasure, intense as it was. I bonded with him tonight in ways I never imagined. The very idea of giving myself to someone else now is a knife to my heart. It’s impossible to contemplate.

Feelings I didn’t know were possible exploded from me as we made love, and I am not the same woman that came through his door less than ninety minutes ago.

“Let’s go.”

Maxim thinks we are just going to talk to my father. After telling him I knew about his record, he insisted on going home with me and setting things straight. If that was the only issue, I know he could make my father see sense. The honesty that pulses under Maxim’s skin is impossible to ignore. If only that was all.

I feel both more alive and more afraid for the future than I’ve ever been as we step into the outside air which I know is near freezing, but I no longer feel the chill as he ushers me to his car, opening the door and buckling me in making me giggle under my breath.

Whatever happens in the next few minutes, it’s going to change everything. The need for a seatbelt fading and part of me wants to rail against the pointlessness for such a short journey, but at the same time I feel a warmth of security from Maxim’s protectiveness. Knowing he cares about my safety makes me feel loved. I wonder if that will change when he knows…

“Ready, baby?” His face is next to mine, and I turn and give him a quick kiss never realizing how having someone call me that could make me feel so…precious.

“As ready as I can be.”

He smiles and closes the door, oblivious to the depth of my statement. The dash reads 11:45 P.M., and in another world I would be giving myself to a stranger for all of eternity right now, trading my own happiness for the security of the Messina family's continued protection.

Instead, I’m putting us all in harm’s way for my own selfish desires.

As we glide down the driveway and stop at the gate to my family’s estate, Maxim rolls his window down and punches in the code, and the heavy iron swings away.

I stare, and he looks over at me, tipping his head. “I was prepared to do what was necessary to get to you, Seleme. Forgive me, but I had Dimitri text me the security code to your gate. It was on my phone when I checked it before we left. I was coming for you tonight, one way or the other.”

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