Page 45 of The Vampire Kingpin
I drank greedily, and thrust again. Taking what I wanted because this at least, I could control.
Except Lark didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she wrapped her arms and legs around me, her body straining toward mine, trying to take me deeper.
“Harder,” she rasped against my ear.
Slay. Me.
I groaned against her soft skin and gave it to her harder.
12
Lark
Spider licked the wounds he’d made in my neck closed and withdrew from me, rolling onto his back. The room was silent except for our pounding hearts.
I felt him eyeing me. I braced myself for more questions, but instead, he picked up my hand and kissed it, then rose from the bed with that easy grace he had. A few seconds later, the shower came on.
I sat up in his bed, covers pulled to my chest.
A shudder went over me. I’d been so close to giving into him, telling him the whole story and naming Jared Darkman as the reason I was in hiding.
Dammit, Lark. He’s getting to you.
He made me want things, and I couldn’t let that happen.
My gaze settled on the duffel bag. Why had he gone and done such a nice thing? He was confusing me, dammit. I could take whatever he threw at me in bed. Hell, I loved it.
But this was starting to feel like more—a relationship. Which he didn’t want any more than me, right?
But I do. I do want it.
I dropped my head into my hands and dug my palms into my eyes.
You’re so fucked, Lark.
I drew a breath, then threw off the covers and went into the bathroom. Spider had pulled his locks into a high man-bun to keep them dry and was soaping his underarms. His head snapped up, tracking my movements as I put my own hair up in a ponytail and stepped into the shower, closing the door behind me.
Hot water rained around us. He rubbed the soap over the taut ridges and grooves of his abs, giving me a lazy smile. My gaze tracked a stream of tiny bubbles, following their path down the deep cut bisecting his lower torso to where they disappeared into the black nest of hair around his rapidly hardening dick. He returned the soap to its holder and circled his soapy fingers around himself, running them to the tip and back to the root in a leisurely squeeze.
With an effort, I brought my gaze back to his face. His brown eyes were hot and knowing, but I sensed a barrier between us, a barrier that was as much my fault as his.
This thing between us had to end. It wasn’t safe for either of us for me to stay too long—that hadn’t changed.
And Spider wasn’t offering me forever anyway. If Amina had truly been his mate, then he never would.
I swallowed what felt like shards of glass. If only I’d met him first…
But before I left, I wanted that night out with Spider that he’d dangled before me like a glittering necklace. One special night with my gorgeous, badass Underworld kingpin.
Yeah, Jared was an issue, but the syndicates tended to stick to their own except for strategic alliances, and the Darkmans and the Krals had never entered into an alliance.
Plus, it’s the Midnight Masquerade, dammit.
I wanted to go with him so bad, and a masquerade meant masks, right? I’d just have to make sure mine stayed on. Jared would be looking for a blonde, and I’d gone back to my natural black the night after I left Vegas.
“I’ll go,” I said, moving closer.
He stopped stroking himself and lifted an eyebrow. “To the Masquerade?”
