Page 17 of Every Bite You Take
“Will you…” She took a deep breath and began again. “Will you help me?”
Blood surged through my veins at the sweet anticipation of tasting hers.One one-thousand, two one-thousand, I began again, struggling against the rising urges.
“Yes, but…” The sound of her heart thumping entranced me.
“What?” she asked with gentle concern.
Should I admit it? How much I yearned for her? Yes, she deserved to know. “There’s something about you…that calls to me. What if once I have a taste, I can’t stop?”
My shoulders sagged. There, I’d said it. Admitted how I could very well be a monster who’d hurt her.
Kylie swallowed hard. Her hand shook slightly. She inhaled audibly and exhaled slowly. “You’ll be able to control it.” She raised her chin and ran the back of her knuckles over my cheek. “I know you won’t hurt me.”
The steady belief in her tone invigorated me. Of course I’d never hurt her.
“Never,” I promised. My gaze caressed from her trusting eyes down the lines of her body, all the way to her smooth leg that had been teasing me with that enticing aroma.
When I pulled the cloth away, my fangs extended. Her eyes flashed with wariness.
“I’m sorry,” I choked out. “It’s instinctual.”
“I know.” Her voice trembled slightly.
I hated to see her fear. To have her think of me as a monster. “You’re afraid of me.”
“No,” she said quickly. “Please…”
I searched her eyes, not knowing what she wanted. “Please what?”
“Yes, I get freaked out by blood,” she admitted. “But the other side of that is…curiosity.” She shook her head and mashed her lips together. “No, not a morbid type.” She pushed her hair away. “What I mean is… Damien, don’t hide who you are from me.”
I couldn’t believe she’d even want me to after what she’d revealed. The sound of her heart pounding faster echoed off the confined walls. The atmosphere in the space seemed to shift, thickening with electrifying tension.
I bent down to her leg slowly, keeping my gaze on her face for any sign of her changing her mind, but she didn’t move. She watched me, eyes gleaming with what I read as—fascination.
When I reached her where her crimson blood crossed her smooth leg, I inhaled the sweet ambrosia. The beast in me rose, leaving me on the very shard of self-control. My tongue darted out and captured a drop.
Oh, hell. She tasted even better than I imagined. An involuntary moan eluded me as desire rushed through my veins, settling down in my cock. Her unique tang tasted exquisite, stirring a decadent temptation of both hunger and lust. I licked at the gash to do as I promised, but the struggle not to clamp on and drink from this fountain grew near insurmountable.
CHAPTER 11
KYLIE
Damien's tongue on my skin stirred the oddest sensation. Warm and wet, the feel of him lapping at my blood fascinated me. I didn’t look, though, not sure of my reaction. The last thing I wanted to do was pass out when this felt so intriguingly good.
I closed my eyes, focusing on how it felt. The sharp sting of the cut abated. What remained—it did surprising things to me, something deep and primal. Heat pooled between my legs. Was I truly feeling desire while a vampire tasted my blood?
What I’d told him about my past was true, but I couldn’t believe I’d revealed it to him. My father’s abandonment and the reason why had left me with so many complicated and sometimes conflicting emotions that it wasn’t something I shared. As I moved into my twenties and encountered more vampires, my curiosity grew. What was it about them that was so alluring thatit could make a husband leave his wife? A father leave his child? Was it simply pure lust? Or could it be something more?
My father and stepmother were still together after all these years, so there had to be something deeper than desire holding them together.
I shook my head. Now was not the time to think of that. I opened my eyes and saw Damien’s were closed and dark lashes fanned over his cheeks. When he pulled away from my leg, I sucked in a breath, bracing myself for the sight of blood.
The wound was healed. Unmarred and with no traces of red remaining.
“What?” I began in a breathless tone, not even sure of my question. I knew what I’d asked him to do, but the entire encounter left me slightly unmoored.
The redness was gone from my leg, but it remained in his eyes. They glowed with a crimson sheen, gleaming with hunger, his strained expression revealing his struggle against his instincts. A flash of fear rose within, warning me he was a predator. It was quickly replaced by a more exhilarating sensation.
