A Bite to Remember (30 page)

Jackie’s eyes widened incredulously as he caught her under the knees. He used his hold to tug her forward to the edge of the couch, spreading her legs wide as he did, then he began to trail kisses up one thigh. This was so like the erotic dream she’d had in this room the other day, Jackie could hardly believe it. Then she forgot all about the dream and focused firmly on the here and now as Vincent reached the center of her and set to work driving her crazy.

Aware that they weren’t alone in the house, Jackie tried to control herself and keep from making too much noise, but in the end, had to grab for one of the throw pillows on the couch. She pressed it against her own mouth to muffle her cries of pleasure as Vincent proved once and for all that true passion really could beat out the false pleasure Cassius had planted in her mind all those years ago. Jackie was writhing and sobbing, gasping and straining, and then she was screaming into the pillow as her body bucked with orgasm.

She was as weak and limp as a damp cloth by the time Vincent rose up between her legs. And while she’d only managed to half undo his pants earlier, they were fully undone and pushed down now. Vincent slid right into her.

For one moment, Jackie felt sure he couldn’t raise any interest in her for the main course after such a sating appetizer, but she was wrong. It took only two strokes for her body to revive and regain interest, and then she caught Vincent by
the shoulders and held on for dear life as he took her to the peak of pleasure again. This time, he came with her, and they both cried out as one, neither of them thinking to silence the sounds. They then collapsed against the back of the couch.

“Dear God,” Vincent breathed after a moment.

“Mmmm,” Jackie moaned. Every muscle in her body was trembling and she couldn’t seem to find the energy to murmur more than that as agreement.

Vincent started to straighten and Jackie—still wrapped around him like a limpet—went with him. It made him chuckle softly into her hair and he kissed her cheek before lifting and shifting them both so they lay lengthwise on the couch with Jackie half beside and half on top of him. Vincent then reached out to catch the throw off the back of the couch and pull it over them both.

Jackie cuddled against him, her head nestling on his shoulder and a smile curving her lips as she dropped off to sleep in his arms.

She didn’t sleep long. Jackie opened her eyes a little while later and found herself staring at Vincent’s chest spread out before her eyes. She lay still for several minutes, then found her gaze dropping down over his body, a body that had given her great pleasure earlier. Vincent was an amazing lover, passionate and giving, all a woman could want. The idea of spending eternity—or as close to eternity as immortals got—with him wasn’t an unattractive one.

He was charming, handsome, and incredibly sexy. He was also intelligent and amusing and just plain interesting. But he was very different from her in many ways. Jackie tended to take everything terribly seriously, while he appeared to take
things much more lightly. And yet she couldn’t help thinking it might be a good thing. Perhaps they could balance each other out. Perhaps they would make an excellent team. He could help her enjoy life more and she…well, Jackie didn’t want to say she could make him enjoy it less, but she could help him see where he needed to be more cautious and more security conscious.

That sounded so dull, Jackie realized unhappily. Her gaze slid over what she could see of his body from where she lay with her head on his chest. The man had given her great pleasure. If nothing else, she wanted to give him back some of that pleasure.

Holding her breath, Jackie eased off the couch, grateful he’d positioned her on the outside, then she shifted to her knees and peered at the length of him. He was long and lean and beautiful to look on. The man had a gorgeous body. Perfection. She could just eat him up, but where to start?

Smiling faintly at her own thoughts, she leaned forward and began to press kisses down his chest and along his stomach. Jackie’s smile widened when his stomach muscles rippled under her caress and he murmured sleepily and shifted his legs restlessly. He didn’t wake up until her lips reached his hip, then she heard him murmur her name with confusion.

Jackie turned to glance up toward his face and found his head up as he peered down at her.

“What are you—?”

The question died on a groan as she took him into her mouth. Vincent was only half-hard when she did it, but was already growing larger as her lips closed around him. His hips jerked at the intimate caress and a growling hiss slid
from his lips, then his hand caught in her hair and he tried to urge her away. Jackie ignored him and continued to move her mouth over his erection, her hands sweeping over his stomach and thighs as she did.

“Oh God,” Vincent muttered and she could tell it was through clenched teeth.

Jackie glanced down toward his feet and almost smiled at the sight of his curled toes. That had to be a good sign. She’d barely finished the thought when Vincent suddenly gave up tugging gently at her hair. She thought he was going to let her work undistracted, but instead he rose up on the couch, caught her by the upper arms and dragged her on top of him as he fell back.

“But I wasn’t done—” Jackie began to protest, only to be silenced by Vincent dragging her mouth down to his. He held her head in place with one hand, but the other was roaming over her body, smoothing down her back, clasping her buttocks and squeezing briefly before he allowed his hand to drop between her legs and began to caress her. He trailed his fingers over her sensitive flesh as he thrust his tongue into her mouth and Jackie groaned in response, her legs instinctively trying to close around his hand.

Vincent was having none of that, however. Retrieving his hand, he used it to pull her leg to the side until it slid off of him and rested on the couch. He used his other hand to pull her leg over on the other side as well, so that Jackie was straddling him. Vincent then caught her head with one hand to keep her from lifting up, while he slid the other hand between them and began to caress her again.

Jackie groaned into his mouth as his fingers trailed over
her warm, trembling flesh, then bucked into the caress when he parted her damp flesh and slid one finger inside. This wasn’t what she’d intended, she’d meant to give him pleasure, but he wasn’t cooperating. Reaching between them herself, she took Vincent in hand and began to guide him toward her, but Vincent stopped her again. Moving abruptly, he suddenly shifted, sitting upright and forcing her with him.

Jackie gave up what she’d been trying to do and grabbed at his shoulders to keep from tumbling off as Vincent suddenly stood.

“What?” she asked with bewilderment, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist. Vincent silenced her again with a kiss as he crossed the room. With one hand under her bottom to hold her up, he opened the door to the office with his other, then carried her out into the hall to the stairs, kissing her the whole way.

It wasn’t until they were halfway up that Jackie recalled they weren’t alone in the house. At that point, it was too late to worry about it, but she squeezed her eyes closed and prayed that Christian and the boys didn’t come home suddenly at this point, or that Marguerite or Tiny didn’t come out of their rooms. She was relieved when they made it to Vincent’s room undiscovered. He opened the door, stepped inside and pushed it closed with one foot, which left them in complete darkness. It didn’t seem to cause Vincent problems, however; he crossed the room in the dark without stumbling into or over anything, then laid her down on the bed and came down on top of her.

“Mmm,” Jackie sighed and arched as his mouth closed over one nipple and suckled gently. She then groaned as he
began to roll the other nipple between thumb and forefinger. Sliding her hands into his hair, she writhed beneath him in rhythm with his suckling, then spread her legs and raised her knees so that she could push down with her heels, lifting her hips to rub against him.

Vincent immediately groaned, the sound vibrating over her nipple as he pushed back.

“I want you inside me,” she whispered. “Please, Vincent. I want you inside me.”

Raising up, Vincent silenced her plea with a kiss. He caught her hands in his own and held them on either side of her head as he drove into her.

Jackie cried out into his mouth, wrapped her legs around him, her heels urging him on as he took them to the heights of pleasure again.

Jackie was starving when she woke up. She supposed it shouldn’t really be a surprise. Even as a mortal she’d woken up hungry in the mornings and Marguerite had warned her that she would need quite a bit of blood at first, while her body continued to change. It seemed turning wasn’t a quick thing and while she now had teeth, everything that was going to change, hadn’t yet. According to Marguerite, her night vision would increase over the next while, along with her hearing, physical strength, speed, and many other things.

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Jackie glanced around. She was still in Vincent’s room, in Vincent’s bed. They’d both fallen asleep again after he’d carried her up to his room and made love to her a second time. She’d awoken a little later to find him kissing and caressing her. Vincent had
made love to her several more times during the last hours of night and well into the morning, until they’d both collapsed in exhaustion.

Her gaze slid to the digital clock on the bedside table and she grimaced. It was after three in the afternoon. Not very late considering what time they’d fallen asleep, but extremely late when compared to the hours she used to keep. Her conscience hadn’t caught up to the change in the situation and she felt guilty for sleeping so late. She supposed she’d adjust with time.

Jackie glanced to the man asleep beside her. Vincent had turned on the bathroom light at one point last night and left the door cracked open so that it wouldn’t be pitch black in the room. She was grateful. The light was enough that she could see his face. He was still asleep and she smiled at how adorable he looked. Vincent’s hair was tousled, his chiseled features softened in slumber and his usual smile missing, replaced by a peaceful, but neutral expression.

Jackie found herself reaching out and running a finger lightly down one cheek, wanting to touch him, but not wanting to wake him. He’d had a long night and deserved his rest. Vincent had proven to her last night, repeatedly, that he hadn’t been bragging when he’d said he used to be good at sex. If anything, he’d understated his prowess. Vincent was an
amazing
lover. Incredible. Mind blowing. And he was all hers…Maybe.

Biting her lip, Jackie pulled her hand back and peered up at the ceiling. They hadn’t spoken about much of anything last night, not their status or whether he agreed with Marguerite that they were true life mates now. She had no idea if
he accepted, or even wanted her as his life mate. Come to that, Jackie wasn’t sure she was ready to accept him as a true life mate either, though last night had urged her a step closer. She hadn’t experienced such passion in all her thirty years, but this seemed all to be happening so quickly to her and she feared making a mistake.

A cramp stabbed through her stomach, distracting Jackie from her thoughts and urging her to get up and feed. Moving carefully, she slipped from the bed, then paused, recalling that her clothes were still down in the office where Vincent had helped her remove them.

Pursing her lips, she peered around the dim room and spotted a robe over a chair next to the bed. Jackie picked it up and slid into it, smiling as she was enveloped in Vincent’s scent. She found herself repeatedly lifting the lapel and pressing her nose into the soft cotton and inhaling as she left the room and made her way downstairs.

It being mid-afternoon, Jackie expected to find Tiny in the kitchen, but the room was empty. Wondering where he was, she moved to the refrigerator and retrieved a bag of blood, then stared at it blankly as she realized she had a small problem.

Despite Christian’s claim that just seeing the blood on awaking might be enough to bring on her teeth, such was not the case. It would appear being close to Tiny the first morning she’d awoken had been enough to raise them because of the blood loss and the change. This afternoon, her hunger wasn’t enough to bring them on. She stood for several minutes, staring at the bag of blood in her hand and trying to figure out what to do.

Jackie briefly considered slicing open a bag to bring her teeth on, but didn’t think she could stomach actually drinking the liquid out of a glass. It was one thing letting her teeth draw it straight up into her body, but gulping it down like orange juice held absolutely no appeal. In fact, the very idea made her feel nauseous, which meant if she punctured it to get the scent of blood to bring on her teeth, she would be wasting a whole bag of blood, because she wouldn’t be able to pop the open bag onto her teeth. All that would accomplish would be to make one hell of a mess, she was sure.

Grimacing, Jackie shifted briefly from one foot to the other, then walked to the knife drawer with a sigh. There seemed little choice but to give the end of her finger a jab as Dante had done to his own finger the first day. That little pearl of blood had been enough to draw her teeth out and should work now. She hoped.

Jackie chose a little paring knife from the selection in the drawer, then pushed it closed with her hip and set the bag of blood on the counter. She then held up her left hand and mentally prepared to jab herself…and prepared some more…and some more.

“Geez,” she muttered. “It’s just a little jab. You can do it.”

“But why bother when you don’t have to?”

Jackie jumped in surprise as Vincent suddenly slid his arms around her from behind. She’d been concentrating so hard on trying to convince herself to accomplish the task, she hadn’t heard him enter the kitchen.

“Hi,” she sighed as his hands eased their way into her robe.

“Good morning,” Vincent murmured. Using his chin to
brush the hair away from her neck, he placed a kiss there. “You don’t have to cut yourself. I’ll help you bring on your teeth.”