Page 72 of Love Bleeds
I took a step toward him and put my hands on his hips. A gesture that felt a bit awkward to me only because I still wasn't sure how to flirt. "Would you... uh...like to go upstairs?" My heart beat a little faster, waiting for a response, hoping that I wasn't making a total fool of myself.
But then Crimson put his hands on my hips too, and I relaxed a little. A shiver went down my spine as he leaned in to rest his forehead against mine. "I have no idea how I deserve you," he murmured.
I wanted to say something witty in return, if only to distract myself from the way my blood rose into my cheeks again, but I couldn't come up with anything good. "There was that one time you set a new record on Tetris," I pointed out in the end. "That was pretty awesome."
Crimson laughed softly, and then he kissed me. A slow, gentle kiss that made my knees turn to rubber and my brain to jelly. It was followed by another one, and then another one, until I found it hard to think at all.
It was so weird, what he was doing to me, but instead of worrying about that, I only held on to him a little more tightly.
"I should just lift you up and carry you up the stairs," he said in one of those short moments between one kiss ending and another one beginning. "Lay you down on the bed and undress you. Kiss every inch of your naked skin."
I grew hot, imagining myself in that scenario. Naked on my bed with Crimson's mouth on my skin.
I wanted that.
So badly I thought I might have an accident in my pants if he kept kissing me and saying things like that.
But I didn't want him to stop either.
"What... what else would you do?" I asked, half-stumbling over the words as Crimson kissed the side of my face, then my jaw.
"I don't know yet, but I would take my time finding out," he said. "Figure out what makes you feel good, what makes you ask for more." He paused to kiss my neck. I expected him to say something else, or to move his lips up my jaw again, but he remained perfectly still with his mouth hovering less than an inch away from my neck, his breath falling against my skin.
I swallowed.
Was he...?
No, he couldn't be thinking about biting me.
But what if he was?
Two different emotions went to war inside of me as I tried to figure out how that idea made me feel. One part of me wanted to know what it would be like, to have Crimson's teeth sink into me, to let him feed on my blood. There was something so base about that desire, I couldn't even put it into words for myself to understand.
But I couldn't picture it without picturing another vampire. One who actually had bitten me.
And when I thought ofthat, cold tendrils of fear wrapped themselves around my heart and squeezed.
I leaned into Crimson to shake the thought. I couldn't think of Nicolai now. I didn'twantto think of Nicolai now. Not while Crimson and I were sharing an intimate moment.
"What's wrong?" Crimson asked, his lips closer to my ear than my neck now.
"I just... I don't know. Just take me upstairs, okay?"
Crimson closed his arms around me and hugged me tight, melting the icy cold the fear had left around my heart, just like that time he’d pulled me out of the dark depths of my dreams after Nicolai tried to turn me. "Why don't you go up and wait for me?" he asked, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "I'll be with you in a minute."
"What are you going to do?"
"I just need to take care of something real quick. A vampire thing. I'll tell you about it later."
I nodded, even though I wasn't fully convinced. He would have to explain once my brain wasn't doused in hormones anymore. On my way out of the dining room, I looked back at him over my shoulder. "Don't keep me waiting too long."
There, that didn't sound super awkward, and possible even flirty, didn't it? I was learning. Mentally, I patted myself on the back. Maybe with some time, I'd actually get good at this.
The thought might have made me smile.
If I hadn't been so painfully aware of how limited our time might be.
