Page 28 of Bite of Passage
“What?”he grumbled.“Daytime…sleep.”
“I can’t feel my arm,” she said.“Do you think you could move over a bit?”
His pillow shifted and in a matter of seconds he realized it wasn’t a pillow.He was using Gemma’s chest to support his head.
“Balls.”He jackknifed off her, flinging himself up to roll to his side of the bed, but he overestimated the jump and slid backward to the floor, dragging the tangled comforter with him.Pushing the covers off his head, he found her peeking down at him from the mattress.
A smile lit up her entire face.“Did my boobs bite you?”
Scrambling, he struggled to get free of the comforter, which he discovered to be impossible.Another slip and he landed shoulder-first on the floor.He huffed in frustration and ripped at the cover.
“My boobs have a mind of their own and have been known to misbehave.”
He tried to follow her words with his sluggish mind, which never functioned well during daylight hours.
She propped her chin up, giving him a glorious view of the naughty boobs.His heart lurched at her carefree attitude.No woman joked with him, especially not one who hadn’t actually slept with him.Hell, he’d never slept in a bed with a woman he hadn’t fucked.
Her feet kicked up behind her and crossed.“There was this incident in college when they popped out of a tank top on a date.I admit my shirt was too small to contain the girls, but they must’ve wanted action because they just…” She gestured to her chest.“Exploded out of the shirt.”
After untangling himself, finally, from the cover, he stood.As he scratched the top of his head, he watched her eyes dip to his naked navel before they traveled back up his body.He was on board witheverythingpromised by that scan.
“Are you a guy who tosses women around?I mean, can you be athletic…er, energetic in bed?”She compressed her lips and scrunched her nose, which was adorable.“I know that’s a random question, but it popped into my head with you being so large.I mean strong.”Her eyes dipped to his crotch.“Large too.”
“Didn’t you watch me with females on theshow?”He despised the idea of her watching, of anyone watching.
“No…I mean…” She sat up and stared down at her hands.“I never saw anything inside a bedroom.I’m sorry.It’s creepy to think of me or anyone else watching.I get it.”She peeked up to look at him.“It’s not my fault I was watching.It’s a show on TV.”
She hadn’t seen him have sex.That was something.
“I get that you’re not attracted to me or my kind,” she stammered.“I know I’m not from your world and I’m human, which isn’t usually a good thing for you.”
Was she blind?Not attracted to her?
She fiddled with the edge of the comforter.“I’m babbling.This is awful.Your aura or hotness or whatever vampire thing you have must be frying my brain.You don’t need to pretend to be attracted to me.You be you.I’ll be me, which means it’s time I go back to my world and resume watching yours while not being in it.”
“Let’s clear up one thing.”He prowled toward her, and then over her without actually touching her.She fell flat against the bed, eyes wide.He allowed his chest to touch her breasts as a single point of contact.He might as well have been on fire with as much heat as it ignited between them.He bracketed her chin with his hand to force her to look into his eyes.“It’s the middle of the day.I’m a vampire, which means I should be asleep.I drink human blood.Yourtype of blood.I want it…a lot.”I may want you more than anything, but I won’t let anyone steal my soul and turn me to evil, not even you.“If I bite you, you’ll become like me.You’ll need to drink blood.You’ll become vicious to do it.”
His mouth watered as he lowered his head toward her neck.The drive consuming his mind was so intense he teetered on the edge between existence and unreality.
“No,” she squeaked out and craned away.“I don’t want to be like you.”Her breaths came in short gasps.She tried to escape his grip, but he didn’t release her.He smelled her fear, which was good.He needed her to respect the danger he posed.
Every single rise and fall of her breasts pressed into him.Her heightened heartbeat didn’t help his no-sex-and-no-bite decision.
His fingers dragged across her pubic bone, causing her legs to spread wide.“If you were a woman I could trust myself not to bite and only fuck, this would be different.We’d already be naked.”
“Are you going to bite me?”
“No,” he said on a choked gasp.He leaned in, lowering his nose close to her neck, and inhaled.The urge to bite hazed his sanity.His teeth tingled.He forced out, “I could do it…but I won’t.”He repeated it twice more before he could move.
He jumped away from the bed.
Her head rolled toward him.“I don’t understand why I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.It’s scary.”
“I’m not a man.I haven’t been human in a very, very,verylong time.”He pulled at his hair to tie it behind his neck.“You have to go or I’m going to bite you.I can only resist this for so long.”He released a few strangled breaths.“When I do bite you, who knows if you will completely turn or if you’ll end up a half-dead, partially turned slave.”
“A slave?”she squeaked out.
“No vampire has succeeded in turning a human in over a hundred years.”
