Page 24 of The Vampire Kingpin
She released the rails to dig her nails into my ass. “More,” she sobbed out. “Please… Harder.”
I willingly gave her what she was begging for. Her inner walls contracted, milking me tightly. I caught a final glimpse of her face, contorted with pleasure/pain, then my vision hazed and all I could do was feel her and smell her.
I snarled and slammed into her again and again until a climax exploded through my system like a heat-seeking missile. Beneath me, Lark cried out—high, sexy sounds that mixed with my own agonized groan.
When I came back to myself, I was hanging over her, my teeth open on her shoulder. Not hurting her or feeding from her.
Just…holding her. Claiming her.
I recoiled, guilt constricting my chest. I’d left tiny red marks on her smooth skin, marking her in a way I hadn’t done since Amina.
Quickly, I withdrew from her body and rolled onto my back.
She released a shaky exhale. “Holy shit.”
I mentally agreed. That had been intense. So good, it felt like a slap to Amina’s memory. My almost-mate. The woman I’d intended to claim before that rat-faced punk had staked her to get back at me.
Velma had said Amina wouldn’t want me to feel guilty.
I wasn’t so sure. Amina had loved me as hard as I’d loved her. If she’d found me in bed with another woman, she would’ve carved off my stones with a dull knife.
But Amina had been in her final grave for twenty-one years now. She wouldn’t have liked it, but she would’ve accepted it, just as I would’ve understood if the situation had been reversed.
Having sex with Lark wasn’t the problem here. It wasn’t even wrong to enjoy it.
What bothered me was that for the first time in two decades, my brain had been wiped of any thought of Amina, a woman I’d vowed never to forget.
I’d broken that vow because all I’d been able to think of was Lark.
Taking her.
Pleasuring her.
Keeping her.
I turned my head to find Lark looking back at me. Her lips lifted in a soft smile. “Hey.”
Something jagged tore into my chest. The guilt ratcheted up, along with a touch of panic. Time to pull back before she got the wrong idea.
This couldn’t be anything else. I wasn’t keeping Lark, even if I hadn’t promised she could leave after the thirty days were up. Nobody could replace Amina. I’d resigned myself to a life without a mate.
“Thanks.” I planted a casual kiss on her mouth. “You got skills, woman. That twenty-five is looking like it’ll be worth every dime.”
“Oh. Right.” Her smile faded. She rolled her lips into her mouth. Then she formed them into a lopsided grin. “Guess I should’ve held out for fifty.”
6
Lark
Mortification heated my cheeks. I dropped an arm over my face, praying Spider wouldn’t notice.
I’d begged him. Allowed him to drink from me. Let him take me anyway and anyhow he wanted—and I’d loved every second of it. I was still humming.
Yeah, I talked a big game, telling him I’d be the best he ever had. But he’d flipped it on me, because he’d turned out to be the best I’d ever had. A fairy tale come to life, except in this version, the villain pleasures the woman until she forgets he’s no prince.
Problem was, when it was over, I’d forgotten why we were tangled in these sheets. That I was Spider’s thrall. That this was a hustle, me grabbing a chance to score some easy cash.
Worse, he’d known that I’d forgotten. That I’d been feeling…feelings. Warm and fuzzy, I-could-like-you feelings.
