He shuddered and gripped his cock that now stood like an erect flagpole between his legs.
“Shit.” He briefly considered jacking off but fuck that. He climbed under the bedsheets, but sleep eluded him as usual.
He stared at the ceiling as thoughts of her poured into his mind. They were sappy
thoughts too, like how he wished she’d accept his half-blooded arse and mate with him.
God, did he want her. He could have had her body by now, that he knew with the way
she’d pursued him lately. Damn if he didn’t want more, though. She’d never do it, and her brother would never allow it. He was a half-breed, a mutant, a mistake.
How he wished he were some man whore type like Draven or Rayn. Men who would
easily accept the luscious body offered to them eagerly. Henry couldn’t do it though. Not when he knew he cared for her on a much deeper level. He respected her too much, and he respected himself.
Being with her would be like jumping into a pit filled with spikes just ready to cut you.
The fall down would be exhilarating, a rush. A sweeping heart-pounding moment, but then he’d land and be screaming in agony. That’s what she would lead him to.
He scrubbed a hand across his face and stared at the alarm clock on his table. Had only five minutes passed? Shit. If he didn’t get his mind to slow down, he’d never get to sleep.
His cock was still a heavy, hard mass tenting the damn comforter. “Go away,” he
grumbled. “You can’t have her.” God, how many times had he wished things were different? He had no doubt that if he were a full-blooded vampire her brother would accept him with open arms. But now he was practically a contagious virus. Course, she was grown, logic argued. She could just choose him over her brother.
“Yeah, right. The last family she had living.” She wasn’t going to disobey his wishes anytime soon, if ever. So what was he holding his breath for? God. A fucking chance. He wanted her so badly he could practically taste it. He wanted to wake up next to her every damn day.
Wanted to give her his vein and have hers in return. He wanted to fill her with his child.
He growled viciously and slammed his fist into the bed. The spring coils groaned in protest.
Slowly, anger left him. Numbness filled him instead. It was the closest thing to tranquil he had. He closed his eyes and pictured another time, another place.
A time where he was a full-blooded vampire just like her. Where her brother pushed the match of them together, where she still looked at him with those sharp, sexy eyes. She’d be his, completely. He would finally be able to taste her dark golden skin, finally see the shape of her breasts and nipples.
She was curvy in places he wanted to bite with his teeth. Her breasts pushed flat against him when she pressed close. Was she larger and rounded, or smaller and pert? Would her nipples be dark like her lips? A gorgeous sun-kissed color that reminded him of pyramids and older times.
Damn, he was a pussy. And a masochist for even thinking such things.
Eventually his thoughts slowed, and his body relaxed. His eyes fluttered close and sleep finally came.
Movement brought Henry’s eyes blinking open in the dark room. His night vision quickly triggered to accompany the dark environment. He cursed as his eyes locked on the source that woke him up. Nanu, beautiful and looking unsure, sat on the other side of the bed.
“What are you doing here?” His first reaction was that something was wrong. “Are you sick?” As she turned to look at him in the dark, her eyes bright and clear, he knew she wasn’t sick and he was in trouble.
“No, I’m not sick. I came to talk.”
Yeah, right. Henry checked the time to be hours after midnight. “At three in the morning?
Can’t it wait? I just finally got to sleep a little while ago,” he said, scrubbing a hand over his face. He pulled himself to a sitting position in the bed and pondered how he could get away from her since he was literally naked under the sheets.
“No, I’m sorry, it can’t.”
Sighing, he said, “Then say what it is and get out.” She took a deep breath then faced him on the bed, one leg dangling off.
“I want you so badly, Henry. Tonight I couldn’t even sleep. I just lay in bed thinking of you, wishing that I’ll hear a knock on my door and it’ll be you there. Do you know what that’s like?” she asked, yearning in her voice. Henry could have laughed.
“Yeah, I’m well aware of what that’s like, Nanu. I live it every single day.”
“Then why won’t you let us be together?” she said, almost shouting in her frustration.
“You know why. You know what I want. I want you. Completely, totally, mated.”
She gasped, her eyes widening.
“And you know that your brother will never allow it. Hell, that doesn’t bother me as much the fact that you wouldn’t fight for me, Nanu. I have just enough self-respect to want that.
To want a woman who loves me back, who wants me as much as I do her.” Henry couldn’t stand it anymore and threw back the covers, stalking naked to his dresser to pull on some shorts. He heard the bed dip as she stood.
“That’s not fair! I don’t see you pushing my brother, fighting with him to win me. You walk out of the room every time he’s near.” Henry jerked as if she’d slapped him. His mind quickly tried to deny it, but he couldn’t. She was right. He spun around.
“Fine. I’d do more than fight for you, but I won’t fuck you and leave it at that. I can’t. I want you, the whole you, in my bed every single night, waking up next to me, sleeping against me. I want to share my vein with you and take yours. I want a mate, Nanu. I want you.”
Nanu was breathing hard, her hand clutching near her throat. “You...you really mean that?” He nodded once, gravelly. Henry couldn’t look at her. He felt like his heart was about to explode out of his chest. He waited for her to say something, to do something, and it was the worst torture.
“I-I want that too.”
Henry glared at her. “Don’t lie to me. Don’t play games, Nanu. If you say something like that you better mean it one-thousand fucking percent or you can go find the door.”
She was shaking like a damned leaf, standing next to his bed wearing some kind of robe.
She shook her head, nodding. “I mean it so much, Henry. I’ve wanted you for so long. I’ve wanted all those same things.”
His heart soared but his mind made him ask. “You have? Then why haven’t you told your brother to let you see me? And why are you shaking like you’re freezing cold?” he asked harshly. She pulled the collar of her robe closer.
“You have no idea what he’s like. Ever since I was young, he said he’d help me to choose the right mate. After my parents died, he was all I had left. I’d never wish to disrespect him. I love him dearly and I know he only thinks he’s doing what’s best. What my parents would have wanted. And I’m shaking because I’ve n-never been so nervous in all my life.”
In a second, Henry went to her and wrapped her in his arms. He rubbed her back in
circles until she finally stopped shaking against him. God, she felt good there. Like they were made to fit against each other just like this.
He kissed her hair. “Are you sure?” Please be. Don’t break me, he pleaded.
She nodded against him and looked up at him with watery eyes. “Yes, I’m sure, Henry. I can’t be away from you any longer.” Henry wiped her tears away, then, unable to hold back any longer, leaned down and kissed her.
The kiss rocked him to his very soul. She made a soft sound in her throat, then clutched him closer. He was in heaven. He pulled his mouth away to bury his face in her ear. She smelled like lavender, like she always did.