Wanted to stop whatever it was that seemed to live in her heart.
Djinn?
Yes.
Her gaze fell to his throat. “I can’t believe Pate just let me go. Isn’t he worried about what I might do?” A few wrong words had sent Holly to the floor.
“I’m not worried,” Shane said softly. “Because you’re strong. Far stronger than you seem to realize.”
His words brought her eyes right back up to his.
“I want you,” he told her, the words stark and hard. “And I will always want you. I look at you, and I fucking feel complete. Like I found something I didn’t even know I was missing.”
She wanted his words to be true. Wanted the strange connection she felt with him to be real.
Because she hadn’t felt that connection with anyone else.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you. Any who comes after you—human, vamp, werewolf—they’ll have to go through me first.”
He sounded so fierce. Her vampire.
She leaned into him. Put her hands on his shoulders. Made her choice. “And anyone who comes after you will have to deal with me.” Because she wanted to see where this would go. Their connection, their desire…where would it take them?
She didn’t care about some fated nonsense. She cared about the way he made her feel.
For so long, she’d felt as if she were the secret freak in the room, even when she was with killers.
But with Shane, Olivia felt as if she were desired, wanted, more than anything else.
As if she mattered more than anything else.
“Don’t bite me this time,” Olivia told him. “I want to see what it’s like, when it’s just us.”
He gave a jerky nod.
She pushed onto her tip-toes and rose against him. Her lips pressed to his mouth, and her tongue slid over the crevice between his lips. Slowly, she licked the line there, savoring him for a moment even as the blood heated within her veins.
His lips parted and her tongue slid inside. His hands settled along her hips, his long, strong fingers curved around her ass, and he pulled her against the aroused length of his cock.
“Just us,” she whispered against his mouth.
Would it be as good this time? Without that strange blood link?
He kept kissing her, and the kiss became even deeper, so sensual that she trembled.
He lifted her into his arms. Carried her away from the window and down a narrow hallway. He took her into his bedroom. Stripped her. Lowered her onto the bed.
“Your clothes,” Olivia gasped. “You’re still dressed!”
He caught her legs and, gently, carefully, pulled her to the edge of the mattress. “I won’t bite,” he promised her, “but I will taste.”
He leaned over her. His mouth pressed a kiss to her throat, right above her racing heartbeat. He licked her, sucked the skin, had her moaning, and then he moved down.
Down her neck. Down her collarbone. Kissing. Caressing.
His fingers slid over her breasts. Strummed her nipples. Had the desire coiling so tightly within her. Then his mouth replaced his fingers. He took her nipple into his mouth and sucked, he laved her flesh, he had her hips arching up against him and her breath panting out.
Desire rolled through her on a red-hot wave. She wanted his clothes gone. Wanted to feel every inch of him against her. In her.
But he was kissing her stomach now. Being so careful not to hurt her. Being too careful when she needed, wanted, him to be wild right then.
“Shane!”
He parted her legs. “I told you, I get to taste.”
He bent at the edge of the bed and put his mouth on her. His lips feathered over her sensitive core, and his tongue stroked against her clit.
She cried out his name and squeezed her eyes shut as a powerful flood of sensation overwhelmed her. Yes!
She arched toward him.
His tongue thrust into her. His fingers stoked her. His lips savored and he was driving her insane.
Her hands grabbed for the covers. She fisted them. Her body was bow tight as the release waited just beyond her reach.
He licked her clit.
She erupted. No other word for it. The pleasure exploded through her and she shrieked his name. The waves of release racked her again and again, and her sex contracted, shuddering with the pleasure that was so intense it was on the verge of pain.
It wasn’t fleeting. Wasn’t some quick pop of release. The climax left her weak, gasping…and wanting more. Her eyes opened, and Olivia stared at Shane. He’d stood, and, as she watched, he jerked off his shirt. Tossed it across the room. He shoved down his pants and his heavily aroused cock sprang toward her.
The blood link hadn’t been some kind of aphrodisiac this time. She simply wanted him.
Olivia could see the edge of his fangs when he came down toward her, and his mouth went right to her throat. He kissed her. “You taste fucking delicious.”
He drove into her, thrusting his cock fully inside of her. She was slick and sensitive from her release, and a gasp escaped her at his complete penetration.
“Olivia?”
She wrapped her legs around him. Raked her nails down his back. “When do I…get to see…how you taste?”
He withdrew, plunged again.
The tension coiled within her once more. The pleasure mounted.
They rolled across the bed. Wrecked those covers. He pinned her beneath him, opened her wide, and thrust down at an angle that sent the heavy length of his cock sliding right over her clit.
He knew what she liked. What made her go wild.
What made her come, screaming his name.
His hands closed around her fists. She’d grabbed the covers in a death grip again. “Look at me,” he said, his voice a guttural demand.
She couldn’t look anywhere else. His gaze trapped hers.
She saw the pleasure take him. Watched as his release turned his eyes an even darker shade. His cheeks flushed, his teeth snapped as he ground them together, and he came, pumping deep inside of her.
It took a few moments before her breath stopped escaping in wild heaves. Her heart raced frantically against her chest. He still held her hands, and his eyes were on hers.
She hadn’t needed the bite to go wild. She’d just needed…him.
“Even better…” His voice sent a shiver skating over her. “Since we aren’t in some shit-forsaken cave this time.”
His words were so unexpected that a little laugh tumbled out of her.
Surprise flashed over his face, and his eyes narrowed. “I like that.”
“What?” Her lips quirked at him. “Shit-forsaken caves?”
He freed her right hand. His fingers brushed against her cheek. “I like the dimple that you have right here.”
Her smile slipped a bit.
“And I like the sound of your laughter.”
She hadn’t exactly been laughing it up with the guy, not with all of their life-or-death drama. But this was different. This moment, the aftermath. So intimate. There were no shields between them. There was nothing at all. She didn’t need to hide from him, didn’t have to pretend to be something she wasn’t.
Her other lovers had been human. She’d always felt on edge when she was with them. As if she had to watch herself. As if I had to fit in.
When she hadn’t even realized that she was different.
“Did I prove it to you?”
She shook her head, not understanding.
He kissed her, tasted her slowly. “Did I…” Shane said against her lips. “Convince you that the desire is just as strong without my bite?”
She nodded. Her heartbeat still hadn’t returned to a normal speed.
“Good.” But there was a note in his voice that had Olivia tensing. A dangerous rumble. “Because if I don’t sink my teeth into you soon, I’ll go fucking insane.”