Page 119 of His Dark Vendetta

The door clicked shut.

Luca searched my face. “You sure you want to do this?”

I ran my fingernails through his hair again. “Absolutely.”

Faint red specks appeared in the coffee-brown field of his eyes. “Come here.” He tapped my leg. “Put them across my lap.”

I did as he said and scooted closer. I draped my arm along the back of the couch and rested my head on top of my arm.

“Stay just like that,” he whispered.

“Will it hurt?”

The corner of his mouth lifted in a mischievous smirk. “No. The venom feels good.” He brushed his lips across mine. “Very good.”

My lips parted on an intake, my body tingling from being so close to Luca again, like it came alive in the presence of its missing piece. He placed soft kisses along my jaw and nuzzled the space below my ear the way he’d done so many times before.

“I’ve dreamed about this,” he said, and the words tickled my neck. I tilted my head on instinct, craving more. He placed a kiss there and lingered. “Dreamed of pressing my fangs into you and tasting you.”

I shivered, his dark declaration as sinful a pleasure as his lips. He ran his tongue along the hollow of my neck where my pulse pounded for him. He closed his lips over the soft space in an open mouth kiss.

“Thank you,” he whispered against my skin.

A sharp pinch made me gasp. My eyes went wide, and my hand flew to Luca’s shoulder. He groaned, and the pinch transformed into a burning pressure. The sensation crept up my neck, following the path of my artery to my head before shooting back down. And with my heart’s next beat, pleasure spread through my veins like wildfire.

Each heartbeat heightened my sense of touch, and desire pooled in my core. Every press of his body against mine, every brush of skin on skin, created a surge of carnal bliss.

Luca’s tongue caressed my skin beneath his fangs as he drank, directing my blood into his mouth. With each pull on my neck, his fangs delivered more of his delicious venom, and animalistic sounds wrought from satisfaction rumbled through his chest.

His hand traveled up my leg to my back, and he pressed me closer, taking more of what he needed and I wanted to give. I clung to his shoulder, and my nails dug into his skin. High, flighty sighs and breathy gasps of pleasure escaped me as the heat in my veins continued to build. My body was on fire, alive with Luca’s venom, and my heart was full, bursting with intimacy. No more secrets, just our true selves connected like never before.

His mouth slowed, and he relaxed his grip. He pulled his fangs out of my neck, swept his tongue across the wounds, and kissed me there. I shivered.

He looked into my eyes. “You’re perfect,” he whispered.

Color had returned to his face, and his eyes flared a bright and brilliant crimson. His lips were swollen and pink, and the sharp tips of his fangs extended beyond a smile filled with adoration. Luca the blood demon was as beautiful as Luca the man.

He cupped my face and ran his thumb along my jaw. “How do you feel?”

Relaxed. Consumed with pleasure and hope. Utterly in love. I leaned into his touch. “Better now that I know you’ll be okay.”

He wrapped his fingers around my nape and pulled me into him, pressing his lips to my forehead. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m going to be okay.”

My heart squeezed. For me and for him. For the love we shared and the inevitable end to this brief moment of happiness. Because he wouldn’t be okay after I told him I was leaving. And still, it changed nothing.

ChapterThirty-Seven

Siobhán

“Thanks, Paulie,” I said.

Marco’s tight-lipped driver gave me a terse nod. “I’ll be in the foyer if you or Signora DeVita need anything.”

I gave him a wan smile. “I’m sure that’s not necessary.”

“Signor DeVita’s orders are always necessary,” he said and clasped his hands in front of him.

I sighed and knocked on the door.

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