Page 33 of The HalloQueen

She laughed with me and my insides heated while her hands drifted under my shirt, “I also like my headboard.”

“You know that I haven’t seen that monstrosity in its entirety, right?”

“Oh, we are fixing that. We are having a full marathon. I’m putting it in the contract.”

I grinned, “whatever you’d like,mon coeur.”

She kissed me again, “I’m not willing to marry someone without knowing if we have…compatibility.”

I glanced down, bringing her attention to the erection straining almost painfully against my pants, “I can confidently say there’s compatibility.”

Her breath hitched, “Can vampires and mortals…” She bit her lip and hesitated, “I mean, they mention it in Dracula movies and stuff but it seems we are way off script of anything I’ve seen.”

“Do you want to? A minute ago you were freaking out at the idea of Frasier coming over for tea.”

She laughed again, “Yes, I want to. I won’t lie, I’m…morbidly curious as to how this whole…energy transfer thing will work in a…heightened state.” Annabel grinned and quickly added, “but please god, if you make me pass out, will you leave me be? I’m not into that.”

I couldn't contain the snort and I shook my head, “I promise not to have sex with your lifeless body, amour.”

“Oh good, I’m glad we both have standards. Um, what about…”

“I can’t make you pregnant and I can’t carry diseases.”

“Hmm…how handy that you just have that information at your disposal.”

“Well,” I kissed her again, “ you’re the one that is going to have to navigate how to maneuver a two-pronged penis, so I like to come to the table with all my cards.”

Her eyes widened and her voice jumped an octave, “a what?!”

“I’m kidding, Bels. All equipment is…how you say…factory standard.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Yes, I am,” I grinned and she moved to stand, pulling against my hand to stabilize her and she groaned as she came up off the floor. Once she was up, I pulled her into me, relishing the fact that her soft body was against mine again, “I’m not going to force you into anything.”

She nodded, “Okay. But…I want to try. No strings attached for this round, okay?”

I didn’t answer, hoping to attach as many strings to this as possible before the evening was over, “did you get enough to eat?”

She nodded again, taking my hand and leading me toward the stairs, “Don’t break my headboard.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,mon coeur.”

13

ANNABEL

Iwas nervous. Every movie I’d ever seen said that vampire sex would be awesome, but that there was a high likelihood that it would end in my death. However, it seemed as though multiple scenarios Thomas had presented had either resulted in my bankruptcy or death, so what was a little hot sex between friends?

When we walked up the stairs, I could feel his eyes on my ass and I couldn't resist sashaying my hips a little more than usual. He growled and pinched me, making me squeal and run up the rest of the steps, crashing into my room where the dim glow of the street lamps softly illuminated the space. I moved to turn on the light, but Thomas spun me and pushed me into the wall. I gasped, thrown off by how much smaller than me he was although he was taller and infinitely stronger. He shouldn’t have been able to move me at all, let alone be able to toss me around like a rag doll, but his apparent strength made my stomach flip and my heart pound.

He pinned me against the wall with his hips, pressing his erection into my soft stomach, and began kissing up and down my neck. The idea that he could go off the deep end at any moment and sink his fangs into me added an element of danger and adrenaline to the encounter like really hot BDSM on steroids, unfortunately, it also caused my anxiety to spike.

“Thomas,” my voice surprised me, breathless with desire and yet and full of fear.

“Oui,” he continued his way down my neck and onto my clavicles, lavishing me with his mouth, grinding his length against me.

“Thomas,” I said again, confused at the heat pooling within me while simultaneously wanting to hyperventilate in panic, and he froze, pulling back to look at me. In the dark, his eyes were no longer a luscious brown but had become ominously black.

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