Doug folded his arms over his chest, and his face remained a mask of stone as he stared at her fiercely. She wasn’t sure if he was angry, frustrated, or thinking she was nuts, but at least he was letting her continue.
“Vincent tried to glamour you, and it didn’t work.” She let out a short laugh. “That still aggravates him to this day. He couldn’t figure out why you were immune. Although, now I know how he feels. I tried to glamour you in the dreamscape, but it didn’t work.”
“I remember,” he said in a barely audible tone. “Go on.”
“He told me later that when he drank from you, he went into some kind of frenzy. He hadn’t meant to kill you, but there was something about the taste of your blood that sent him over the edge.” Tears filled her eyes, and her throat tightened. “I don’t know how long I sat there weeping with your lifeless body in my lap, but it felt like forever. The next thing I remember, I woke up two days later at his Virginia estate as a vampire.”
“He turned you after he killed me? And you stayed with him?” He clapped his hands and gave her a sarcastic two thumbs up. “That’s great. Nothing says true love like running off with your boyfriend’s killer.”
“You have no idea what I felt or what I went through.” Anger flared up her back as she closed the distance between them in a split second and got right in his face, but he didn’t retreat. “He came back that night and turned me, but he didn’t exactly ask. I had no choice but to stay with him. Not only was I alone and clueless about being an immortal, all vampires are tied to their makers for the first century of our new lives. So I was pretty much fucked.”
She shoved at his chest when he said nothing and continued staring her down, but he didn’t move. The look on his face sent a tidal wave of guilt through her. Did he think she wanted to be what she was? That she watched him die so that she could be immortal and live an eternity without him?
“Where was I going to go?” She screamed and pounded his chest with both hands before he grabbed her wrists and pulled her against his rock-hard body. “I died when you did, don’t you understand?” The tears fell freely now, but she barely noticed because it felt so good to let it all out, to finally tell him everything. “I thought you were gone forever, and it was my fault. You were attacked right in front of me, and I did nothing but sit there like some silly, helpless girl, and my punishment was to live an eternity without you—as a monster.”
He stared at her intently, but if he didn’t say something soon, she was going to scream. Tension hummed in the air, but much to her relief, Doug pulled her into his arms and cradled her head against his chest. I couldn’t save you.
“That’s why,” Doug whispered as he stroked her hair and rocked her gently. “The reason that you’re rescuing damsels in distress, cats, dogs, and the rest of the world.” He pulled back and brushed her tears away with his thumb as he cradled her face. “You’ve been trying to save me.”
Olivia nodded as the tears fell. She clung to him desperately, worried that this too was a dream, and he would slip from her grasp like mist in the woods.
“You blamed yourself? All this time, you blamed yourself for what happened?” Doug placed a tender kiss on her temple and whispered in her ear. “Then I guess I was right…you had my heart before I was even born.”
“Yes, and you’ve had mine.” She linked her arms around his neck and buried her face against his broad chest. “I swear I wouldn’t have turned you if you hadn’t been dying. You do believe me, don’t you?” She sniffled and pulled back, looking him in the face again. “When the dreams started, I actually thought that it was your ghost visiting me, but when I met you that night at the club…”
“When did the dreams start for you?”
“About twenty years ago.” Olivia smiled, hugged him again, and pressed her cheek against his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his narrow waist. “Actually, vampires aren’t supposed to dream. I hadn’t dreamed in over two centuries, so when I had the first one, I thought I’d gotten some bad blood. When they happened more frequently and only with you, well, I assumed it was your ghost. At the start of the dreams, you were quite young, and as you got older, the dreams got more… intense.”
“You’re telling me,” he said on a sigh. “Do you have any idea how often I had to change my sheets?”
The two of them burst out laughing, and he took her head in his hands and kissed her passionately. Desire stirred swiftly as his mouth explored hers, and he held her against his hardening body.
“The dreams were nice,” he murmured against her lips as he pulled the zipper of her catsuit down. “But it doesn’t hold a candle to the real deal.” He kissed the corner of her mouth before pulling back abruptly and giving her a funny look. “Were you really celibate until last night?”
Olivia arched one eyebrow as she made quick work of pulling his shirt over his head and undoing the fly of his pants.
“You bet your fangs, I was.” His manhood sprang free, and the weight in her hand made her wet. “And I plan on making up for lost time in a big way,” she said as she ran her hand up and down the hard length of him.
Olivia dropped to her knees. She looked at him as she cupped his balls and licked the head of his penis in slow, deliberate strokes. Doug groaned and threw his head back as she worked him in her hand and ran her tongue up and down this cock. He tangled his fingers in her hair, guiding her as his hips pumped faster, and she took him deeper.
“Stand up,” he growled.
Doug pulled her to her feet, spun her around, and yanked her catsuit down over her shoulders. Olivia, eager to feel his skin against hers, rid herself of the offending garment, pushing it past her hips. Knowing what they both wanted, she bent forward, leaned both hands on the wall, and offered herself to him. She glanced over her shoulder and bared her fangs.
“Fuck me,” she rasped.
He curled one arm around her and drove his shaft deep inside. Doug placed one hand over hers, tangling their fingers together as he rocked his hips, spearing into her time and again.
“More,” she whispered. “Harder. God, please don’t stop.”
He gave in to her commands and pumped into her willing body rapidly, but still it wasn’t enough. Fingers linked. Bodies locked. She arched her back as he buried himself deep, and when the sweet, torture of the orgasm crested, she brought his arm to her mouth, sinking her fangs into his wrist. Doug swore as she pierced his flesh, and when the orgasm exploded, he leaned down and drove his fangs into the soft skin along the back of her neck.
The simultaneous orgasm and blood exchange was the most erotic, carnal experience of Olivia’s life, and on a flash of light, Doug’s voice touched her mind on a whisper. Eternity.
Both their hearts began to beat.
Bodies linked, limbs intertwined, blood flowing, their hearts actually beat, and in that blinding, brief moment Olivia and Doug were alive.
She thought this part of last night’s experience was a fluke, a one-time phenomenon because of her lengthy stretch of celibacy. However, as the tiny aftershocks rippled through them and their shaking bodies, Olivia knew it was more than a fluke. Whatever was happening between them was related to being bloodmates. As their hearts finally slowed to a stop and lay silent once again, Olivia wondered what other surprises lay ahead.
Doug slipped from her body, and she spun in his embrace, linking her arms around his neck and nuzzling him contentedly. She knew she had to tell him the rest. She had to confess that they were bloodmates, but not now. Now she wanted to enjoy the little peace they had found.