Page 34 of The HalloQueen

“What is it?”

I took another shaky breath, embarrassed that at almost thirty he had me as nervous as I was in seventh grade for my first kiss. And that wasn’t even a good kiss. It was with Derek Kurtz and he was literally the worst and I just wanted to tell my friends I got kissed before them. I laughed apprehensively, “I’m nervous.”

“Do you want to stop? I thought you-”

“I do,” I said confidently, in fact, if he stopped touching me I thought the cocktail of hormones, anxiety and adrenaline coursing through my veins would kill me.

His shining onyx eyes were predatory, but his touch was gentle, “do you want me to make it go away?” Considering, I bit my lip, but he pulled it free using his thumb, “I won’t do anything unless you want me to. I promised I’d never hurt you, Bels.”

All I’d wanted that afternoon was for him to take away my stress, and at that moment, with an orgasm on the line, somehow I was so off-kilter that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go through with it and let Thomas take me.

“What does it feel like for you when you take anxiety?” I whispered, wrapping my fingers into the fabric of his shirt.

He paused and ran the back of his hand up and down my arm, “With most people, I absorb the anxiety and become anxious myself.” I shrunk, not wanting to have him feel the awful things that coursed through my body at all hours of the day. The never ending to-do lists, the fear of failure, the fear of an unknown future, it was enough to paralyze me and make me dissociate the minute I got home each evening. Thomas placed his fingers beneath my chin, lifting it to look into his eyes, “But with you? Anything you have to give me feels amazing. Harvesting has never felt like this before.”

“It won’t hurt you?”

A soft smile eased across his lips and he looked at me nothing short of adoring, “Non, amour. You won’t hurt me.” I hesitated again and he leaned his forehead against mine, “Can I calm you, Bels?”

We were already there. The fire had already been lit. We were already being physical, so I consented, relying on the knowledge that I had made up my mind that afternoon and I was determined to not let my nerves get the best of me. I was about to fuck a vampire, after all, it was every emo teenager’s dream. When I nodded shakily, he feathered his lips across mine and smoothed his hands over my head, taming my hair and cupping my cheeks. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and I felt that pull from him in my mind, like a fishing line being reeled in. It didn’t scare me; it was as if my mind knew it was him inside of it easing my anxiety as softly as a caress from a lover.

The relief was almost instantaneous. My heart rate slowed and my anxiety dissipated, allowing my lungs to open and me to breathe easier. The boulder of my responsibilities that had been crushing me all afternoon was breaking apart piece by piece and turning to dust that could simply blow away in the wind.

“That doesn’t feel fair,” I whispered.

He shuddered as if my feelings coursing through him gave him goosebumps. “I disagree. I’ve never been so thankful to be able to do it.”

I chuckled, “because it might get you laid?”

Thomas rubbed his nose softly against mine, “Non, amour. Because I can feel it helping you.”

With my heart lighter, I kissed him deeper, lust replacing nervousness and I wove my fingers through his luscious coffee-colored hair. Then fiction popped back into my head, and the question slipped out of me between breaths, “wait, how old are you? Are you like…my grandfather or my great-great-great-great-great grandfather?”

He laughed, warming me and making my stomach flip, “I think all you need to worry about is the great-great-great-great-great sex you’re about to havema fille.”

“Oh yeah, Frenchie? You gonna rock my world?”

“That’s what Tommys do, isn’t it?”

I laughed at his Mötley Crüe reference and he grinned, reaching beneath my thighs and lifting me. I squealed in shock and slapped at his rock-hard shoulders.

“Oh my god! Put me down!”

“Why would I do that?” He asked devilishly, turning us toward my bed. He was carrying me like I was lighter than air, meanwhile, I was grasping his neck like I was going to fall to my death instead of simply landing on the floor three feet beneath me if his strength gave out.

“I don’t want to hurt you!”

He scoffed in a horrifically French fashion and threw me onto my bed where I landed with a bounce. “Don’t insult me,mon coeur, even more, don’t use that insulting tone on yourself. Everything I will do with you is because I want to, and you will accept every look, compliment, touch, and orgasm with a smile on your face and the knowledge that you are utter perfection.” Thomas stood on the side of the bed like a predator, “Strip, Bels, let me see you.”

“You don’t want to…” I gestured to the space next to me and he shook his head slowly.

“Non. Off.”

I watched him as I tucked my fingers into the elastic waistband of my lounge pants and slowly pulled them down. He’d already seen me in my underwear before dinner, but he still devoured every inch of skin I revealed with starving eyes. Once my pants were off, I pulled my crop top up over my head, exposing the tantalizing sheer spiderweb bra I pulled from inventory that afternoon to model. It matched the cheeky hipsters that Thomas was drooling over with wide eyes while a deep rumbling tone emanated from his chest.

“Are you growling at me, or purring?” I sat up, fantastically relaxed and not caring that my stomach folded over on itself or that my apron of weight was causing the beautiful panties to roll down. I loved my body, and he clearly loved what he saw. Folding my legs, I quickly pulled at my skin to stop it from pinching on my knees out of habit.

“Yes,” He spoke softly but with enough power that it ignited my blood.

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