Page 104 of Midnight Enchantment

“What should I do?” she asked.

“Anything you want,” he replied, and groaned softly as her curious hands moved over him. It was pleasure and torment combined as she acquainted herself with his body. And when he could stand it no longer, he turned the tables on her and began an exploration of his own, worshipping her with his hands and his lips, whispering love words to her in his native tongue as he aroused her.

Lily moaned softly as his body merged with hers, filling her with pleasure even as she reached for something just beyond her grasp. And just when she thought she would never find it, pleasure exploded deep within her. A moment later, Raedan thrust into her one last time, then fell still, his head pillowed on her shoulder.

Feeling more relaxed and content than she ever had in her whole life, Lily closed her eyes, thinking she would be happy to lie there in his arms forever. She smiled, thinking that if she was a cat, she would be purring now. She laughed inwardly, thinking how surprised he would be if she suddenly morphed into a feline, something Ava had done long ago.

Raedan rolled onto his side, carrying her with him so they lay face to face.

Feeling his gaze, Lily opened her eyes to find him watching her intently.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Terribly.” She laughed softly at the look of horror on his face. “It was wonderful,” she murmured. “Maybe we could do it again some time. If you want to.”

Now it was his turn to laugh. “Count on it, love.” He ran his knuckles along her cheek. She would never know how much she meant to him, how he cherished her love, her trust. He had lived in darkness with no end in sight and then she had come along, her smile as bright as the sun’s light, chasing away the eternal darkness of his existence, warming the cold that had been a part of him for so long.

He held her close, murmuring that he loved her, would always love her. And she gave it back to him with both hands, making him feel whole again. Making him feel like a man again instead of a monster. And that was the greatest gift of all.

Chapter Forty-Two

Lily looked at the calendar. And frowned. She was two months late. Had she not been married to a Transylvanian vampire, she would have thought herself pregnant. But that was impossible. Maybe it was just the excitement of coming home from their honeymoon in Europe. Maybe she was coming down with the flu. Maybe it was the stress of waiting to see if the offer they’d made on a house in New Orleans would be accepted.

Ava and Mason had decided to stay in Ava’s home in Portland until Lily and Raedan found a place to live, insisting that all the newlyweds needed some privacy.

A glance out the window told her Raedan would be rising soon. With that in mind, she fixed a bowl of soup and a sandwich for dinner and carried it into the living room to watch TV while she ate. She loved being married, loved every minute she and Raedan spent together. With the demon gone, he was more relaxed. His insatiable hunger had disappeared and though he still required blood to survive, his thirst was easily controlled. Best of all, the tense relationship between her father and Raedan seemed to have resolved itself the night the demon had finally been destroyed. Raedan had joked that he and her father were blood brothers, and while Quill scoffed at the notion, there was obviously some truth to it. They had even gone hunting together one night before her parents returned to Savaria.

She smiled when she heard the shower come on upstairs. Her husband was awake. A wave of her hand sent the dishes into the kitchen and she ran up the stairs, thinking she would join him in the shower.

She barely made it into the bathroom before her stomach began to heave. Dropping to her knees, she vomited into the toilet.

Raedan was immediately at her side. Dripping wet, he knelt beside her. “Are you sick?”

He had no idea how to handle the illnesses of the day. It had been centuries since he had been ill. Sometimes he forgot how fragile mortals were, how easily they could be hurt. How quickly they could succumb to any number of diseases. “Liliana, are you ill?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then why are you throwing up?”

“I don’t know. I just felt queasy all of a sudden.”

He grabbed a wash cloth, wet it, and handed it to her, his eyes narrowed with concern as she wiped her mouth. Helping her to her feet, he placed his hand on her brow. It was cool to his touch.

“It’s probably nothing,” Lily said. “Something I ate must have disagreed with me.”

He nodded slowly. His biggest fear was that he would lose her. Time and again he had considered asking her permission to bring her across, but he had never found the nerve to broach the subject. He knew her parents would object. Even though they seemed to have accepted him into the family, he wasn’t one of them and he never would be. He was certain that turning Liliana into a vampire would break the tenuous peace between himself and her family.

Seeing the worry in his eyes, Lily grinned at him. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “Why don’t you finish your shower and I’ll wash your back?”

Lily didn’t mention her upset stomach to anyone else, but she began to worry when it happened several mornings in a row. She didn’t mention the incidents to Raedan for fear of worrying him. She was scared enough for both of them. Scared enough that she’d made an appointment with a doctor for the following morning. She hadn’t mentioned that to Raedan, either.

“Are you feeling all right?” he asked when he rose that night.

“I’m fine,” she said brightly. “Stop worrying about me.”

“Would you like to go out?” he asked. “You haven’t been out of the house for days.”

“Sure, if you want to.”

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