Page 137 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

“I believe you, Red. And trust me when I say I’d leave everything behind to go with you. I believe you belong here, as queen and ruler of the vampires. But down the line, if you change your mind, I’ll come with you. Wherever you want to go. I’m there.”

I felt the tears falling again, but this time they were tears of relief. Leaning into his lean, hard body, I relished the way he felt against me. He folded his arms around me, pulling me close to him.

Corry was shirtless, clothed in nothing but tight, black boxer briefs. He wasn’t as tall as his brothers but just as built as Sterling, with sleek muscles that boasted his athletic prowess. He felt so damn good against me.

Pulling back in his arms just enough to meet his gaze, I searched his eyes through my haze of tears. “Why are you so damn sweet to me?”

“Because I like you,” he said with that panty-melting smile of his. “And I’m not a total dumb-ass like Vin. If I want to be with you, I can’t be tossing you around like some plaything. Not my style anyway. Besides, I saw what you did to Mal at the gas station. If that’s what you do to guys who get a little too handsy, then I think I’ll just wait patiently for you to come to me, babe.”

Everything felt so right and easy with Corry. Just like that, all my worries about Vincent Feral were replaced with warm and tingling thoughts of Corry.

Leaning toward me, he brought his lips to the apples of my cheeks, kissing away the tears. When he went in for another cheek kiss, I titled my head to capture his lips with mine. He let out a tiny groan the second our mouths fused.

I pushed him toward the bed, and we fell together onto the mattress, our lips tangled and our mouths still exploring, searching, licking, nipping.

Corry rolled on top of me, holding me in his arms like he couldn’t believe his luck that I was in his bed, and I might blow away in the wind if he didn’t hold on tight enough.

While our kiss was deep and decadent, his lips on mine were unhurried, demanding nothing from me. They only poured his affection, planting tiny kisses around the perimeter of my mouth before delivering one last lingering peck to the center of my lips. Breaking our connection, he sat back on his heels at the foot of his bed to drink in the sight of me nestled among his pillows in only his t-shirt.

I propped myself up on my elbows to meet his gaze through the dark of his room, missing the heat of his closeness. “Come back.”

“We don’t have to do this tonight,” he said as he adjusted himself in his boxers—a testament that he did, in fact, want to do this tonight. “Trust me, I want to. But you were just claimed by Eros, and you gave your mark to Sterling. Then there’s all that messy shit with Vin. You have a shit ton on your plate right now.”

“I do want to be with you. I like you a lot.”

“I know," he said through a lopsided grin. "I like you too. But I already told you, I don’t care too much about being king. All I want is you. I don’t need the throne to have you. So when you’re ready, I’m here.”

My whole body went warm, tingly, and numb. I was so damn tired I could barely feel my limbs. I wanted to be with Corry, but he was right yet again. It didn’t need to be now.

“Thanks, Cor. That means so much to me. Um… Can I sleep in here with you tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”

The youngblood’s brows flew up so fast I thought they might fly off his face. “You’re not afraid I’ll bite you while you sleep?”

I shrugged. “You didn’t bite me when I came in here naked covered in blood, so I don’t think you’ll bite me when I’m passed out snoring.”

“Good point. Fuck yeah, you can stay. Hell, if I had my way, I’d have you sleep in my bed every night.”

He held back the covers for me, and I crawled in. When he got off the bed and pulled them back over me without climbing in, I frowned. “Where are you going?”

“I thought I might sleep in my den. It’s just my closet,” he threw his thumb over his shoulder to gesture to the door behind him. “So I won’t be far.”

“Don’t you want to sleep next to me?”

He blinked several times. “Really? You don’t mind?”

I shook my head, my cheeks burning red. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

His eyes sparkled with excitement, but by the way he held himself, he looked a little nervous. His chest expanded with an inhale, and he lifted the covers to tuck himself in beside me. “I’ve never slept next to anyone before.”

“Not even your sister when you were little kids?”

“Well yeah, my twin. But I meant I’ve never slept next to a woman before.”

“Haven’t you had lovers?”

“A few. I had a girlfriend in high school, but that was a sort of sneak through her window sort of situation. Then there’s been a couple of women in the coven, but vampires rarely sleep next to each other unless they’re a mated pair.”

“If it makes you feel better, I haven’t slept next to anyone either until the other night with Eros.”

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