His thick fingers dipped between her legs, spreading her lips, testing her wetness and finding her slippery with arousal. “You’re soaking wet, habibi,” he chided. “Such a wicked girl.”
His hand stroked the full length of her slit, gathering moisture and dragging it over the skin of her butt, as if to demonstrate how very wet she was.
“Ask nicely,” he murmured, his voice a rumbling burr of sound. “And I’ll give you what you want. What you need.”
“Aden,” she whispered, the words scraping against her dry throat. “Go fuck yourself.”
His chuckle in response was far too happy. As if he’d hoped she’d defy him.
“Bad girl,” he hissed directly into her ear.
She heard the swish of the flogger before she felt the sting of its kiss. Her pussy clenched, and she could only groan, her back arching as she offered herself, her body begging for what her brain refused to admit.
“Pink and pretty,” Aden crooned, and then the whip swished again, on her other butt cheek. “Mmm,” he said appreciatively. “Lovely.”
“Aden,” she said, trying not to whine.
“Yes, Sidonie?”
Sid swallowed the knot of desire choking her throat, every nerve in her body stretched thin, hanging on the precipice and screaming for release. “I really need—”
She didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence. One of Aden’s strong hands flattened on her lower back, holding her in place, and then his cock was slamming into her, a long hard thrust that went deeper than she would have thought possible. She felt him all the way to her womb, all the way to her heart, as he thrust in and out in a steady rhythm, as she pressed her chest into the bed and arched her back, inviting him to go deeper still.
Aden fisted a hand in her long hair, wrapping it around his fingers as he bent low over her back and tugged her head backwards, bearing her neck.
“Mine,” he growled against her hot skin. And that was all the warning she got before his fangs bit into her vein, and her entire body convulsed in orgasm. She buried her scream in the bed covering, her hips bucking against him as his fingers slipped under her body and deep between her thighs, delving into her wetness until he found her clit, then stroking and pinching until Sid thought she’d die as wave after wave of sensation rolled through her body, scorching her nerves, winding her muscles so tightly she could no longer move, only feel, as Aden’s thick cock continued to pound into her, as his snarl of possession shivered against her skin.
He lifted his head, his fangs sliding free of her vein, his breath a silken brush over the flushed skin of her neck.
“Say it,” he demanded, his tongue roughly licking her wounds closed.
Sid had trouble making sense of his words, her mind fogged with bliss, her synapses overwhelmed with sensation.
Aden’s hand came down sharply on her ass, and she moaned.
“Say it,” he repeated.
She thought hard, then finally realized what he wanted.
“Yours,” she agreed, panting. “I’m yours.”
Aden’s roar of climax sounded like a shout of victory, his hot release filling her, setting off a final orgasm that left her overcome by too many emotions, too many feelings all crowding together, all demanding that she feel at the same time.
Aden collapsed over her sweaty back, breathing deeply as he sucked in oxygen, one arm braced to her side, the other stroking her face tenderly.
“Breathe, habibi,” he murmured, his tongue brushing her cheek, tasting her tears.
Sid nodded and tried to concentrate on just that. Breathing. Inhale, exhale. Slow and steady.
“What does that mean?” she managed to ask, then drew in another lungful of air. “That word you call me.”
“It has different meanings, but for you, it means sweetheart.”
“Habibi,” she repeated, testing the syllables.
“Hmm,” he agreed. Sliding a muscled arm around her waist, he dragged them both farther up onto the bed, settling against the pillows with her a limp weight against his side.
“I want you to stay here today,” he told her. “It’s not safe for you out there.”
“You mean because Silas sent that guy on the train, but I don’t get it,” Sid said fretfully. “What would she want with me?”
“I’ve never kept a woman around before. Maybe she thinks I like you.”
“So, I’m the only one?”
“Stop fishing, Sidonie. What do you need to know?”
Sid found enough energy to drape herself over his chest, so that their eyes were more or less even, his expression filled with a patient humor that made her want to bite something, him for starters. She blinked at the thought. She’d never been a biter before she met Aden. Come to think of it, she’d never done a lot of things before she met Aden. This bad boy fling was turning out to be a lot more than she thought. The question was, what did Aden think it was, and was Sidonie about to get her heart broken?
“Okay,” she said, hoping she looked more alert than she felt. “I like you. Probably more than I should, given your . . . dangerous profession.”
Aden laughed out loud. “Is that what we’re calling it? My dangerous profession?”
Sid slapped his chest. “Don’t make fun. What would you like me to call it?”
“I’m a vampire, Sidonie. Violence is in my nature. If that makes me dangerous—and it fucking well does—I make no apologies.”
“I don’t want an apology. I like you the way you are.”
“You like the violence. You’re as bloody-minded as I am. It’s an unexpected bonus in such a wholesome all-American girl.”
“Most people would consider it sick, not a bonus.”
“I’m not most people.”
“That’s for sure. So what is this, then? Am I the flavor of the month?”
“Oh, surely longer than that. At least six weeks.”
“Aden!” she protested. “I’m being serious here.”
“So you are.” He stroked his hand over her face, lifting the heavy weight of her sweaty hair and brushing it back over her shoulder. “I don’t think in forever terms, habibi. Forever is a very long time for a vampire. But I find myself uncommonly attached to you. And when I think about some other man so much as touching your hand, I want to rip his heart out. Will that do?”
Sid smiled happily, then stretched up to kiss his mouth. She intended it to be quick, but as always Aden had his own plans. One hand on the nape of her neck, he wrapped the other around her back and held her in place, taking the kiss deeper, his tongue twisting around hers, tasting every inch of her mouth until Sid felt an impossibly powerful desire rising once again. She moaned as Aden closed his teeth over her lower lip.
“It’s late,” he murmured. “The sun is nearly here.”
Sid voiced a wordless protest. She didn’t want to give him up to the sun or anything else.
Aden rolled her beneath him with a rumbling growl, his fingers going unerringly to her drenched pussy. Sid flexed her hips, thrusting against his hand in a silent demand, spreading her legs wider when his clever fingers dipped into her sex, his thumb circling the tight bud of her clit. She started to grab his hand, although whether it was to crush him against her vulnerable flesh or to pull him away, she couldn’t have said. It didn’t matter, because Aden bit down on her lip with a snarled warning.
Sid cried out in protest, but slid her hand along his powerful arm, stroking the smooth muscle up to this thick shoulder, before threading her fingers through his hair. Their kiss became deeper, more frantic as he continued to stroke her, as her pussy began to tighten around his fingers. Her clit was unbearably sensitive, every caress of his thumb sending a fresh jolt of pleasure, turning her nipples into hard pearls of exquisite sensation as they rubbed against the rough hair on his chest.