A Vampire's Promise (19 page)

Sitting back on my heels, I let my hands fall in the space between his legs while I waited for him to come back to earth. The scent of sex was thick and heavy in the air, and for a while all I could hear was the sound of his breath rushing in, rushing out, keeping pace with the pounding beat of his heart.

“Come here.” His voice, throaty and raw, took me by surprise.

Placing my hand in his outstretched palm, he pulled me up off my knees. His forehead leaned against my midriff as he encircled me with his arms, pulling me closer, so his tongue could make a slow lazy sweep across my stomach. Gooseflesh that had nothing to do with the night air rose on my belly.

“Cold?” he queried, pulling his head back from my dimpled skin.

I shook my head. What he was doing was getting me hot, not cold.

Hooking his fingers in the waistband of my sweats, he pulled them down over my hips and legs, making sure he took my panties at the same time. I steadied myself, a hand on his shoulder, and kicked them off. Gabriel brushed his fingers lightly up the back of my calves and thighs on the return journey. I saw his nostrils flare as he caught the scent of my arousal. I couldn't help it. I was already wet from going down on him, and now anticipation kept me primed.

He buried his face in the juncture at the top of my thighs, and I felt his tongue, hot and demanding, slide between my swollen flesh as he tasted me. Grabbing a fistful of his hair, I tried my best not to grind myself against his mouth, because what he was doing was the most incredible thing I'd ever felt.

“Open for me,” he murmured in a voice so ripe with desire, I thought it quite possible I could orgasm if he simply told me to.

Looking up at me, I saw his lips were glossy with my slickness, and he deliberately ran his tongue over his mouth, sucking me inside. I almost came right then, but he wasn't about to let that happen. Pulling my face down so he could kiss me, Gabriel made certain I tasted myself on his lips. With his tongue now otherwise occupied, his fingers took over between my thighs, slipping in and out of me, making me even wetter. My legs felt weak and my knees unexpectedly buckled.

He moved so quickly I didn't realize we had switched places until I felt the hard planking of the swing seat under my butt. Taking his turn to kneel on the deck, he pulled me forward until my ass was just resting on the edge of the seat.

“Stay right there,” he said as my fingers curled around the front curve of the seat in an effort to scoot back. Ducking down, he raised himself back up with my legs over his shoulders, his hands on my hips. I watched his tongue sweep up the inside of each thigh before flattening out and lapping up the center of me.

I must have wet my finger and stuck it in a light socket. My knees locked and my toes pointed, and Gabriel had to put a hand on my belly to stop me from bucking off the swing. And all the while his tongue continued to lap at me, until he took that cluster of nerve endings between his lips and sucked hard, sending me completely over the edge.

I think I passed out. If I didn't, I came pretty damn close to it.

 

The next night we didn't even make it up the stairs. I will never be able to look at my kitchen table again without seeing my hands gripping the edge as Gabriel bent me over it. Oh. My. God. It seemed a very natural progression, going from sex on the kitchen table to sex in the hall to sex in the living room. I'm ashamed to say it wasn't until we were done giving the couch springs a thorough workout that the question of responsibility reared its head.

Filled with post-sex euphoria, I was tracing circles on Gabriel's smooth chest with my forefinger when the irresponsibility of our actions sledge-hammered me in the back of the head. I was embarrassed about having to raise the topic, but one of us had to be the adult. We were having unprotected sex, lots of unprotected sex.

“Gabriel?”

“Hmmmm?” His eyes were closed and his voice lazy-sleepy with contentment.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

“Anything at all . . .”

“Okay . . . I think we ought to talk about protection.”

The hand that had been languidly stroking my back stopped, and he opened his eyes, staring at me in mild alarm. The dark blue color was startlingly bright.

“From whom do you need me to protect you?” he asked. “Has something happened?”

“No, of course not.” I gave him a shaky laugh.

His question made me stumble a little because he assumed I was referring to an outside threat. It was a reminder of all the things about him I still didn't know. I stopped tracing circles and put my hands on his chest, resting my chin on them.

“That's not the type of protection I'm talking about.”

“Oh.” Closing his eyes, I felt his hand resume its glide up my back. “What other kind is there?”

Puh-leeze! Now he was being deliberately dense. He knew exactly what I was talking about; he just wanted to make me spell it out.

“The type that requires using a condom,” I said in my best
can we please be grown-up about this
voice.

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Are you sure you'd be able to wait long enough for me to put one on?” My cheeks burst into flame. It was true that since I'd found out what I'd been missing, I gave all the appearance of wanting to make up for lost time and was, well, sometimes a little over-eager. “But if you think it will make sex better, then of course I'll wear one—although size may be something of a problem.” He gave a conceited snort, and I lifted my chin so I could slap him lightly on the arm. He flexed his bicep in response.

“That's not the only reason to wear one,” I remarked with an exasperated sigh. All joking aside, I wanted him to take me seriously. “Don't you think it would be more responsible?”

He shrugged. “Not really.”

I pushed myself up, tucking my hair behind an ear, and looked down at him. “Why not?”

“Because I can't get you pregnant.”

It never occurred to me that he might be sterile. Not someone as blatantly masculine as he was. I hadn't consciously been thinking about having a baby, but now that I knew Gabriel couldn't procreate, I felt a wave of melancholy wash through me. He would have fathered beautiful children. Curiosity reared its head, but it felt all wrong asking him to tell me the reason why.

“But what about . . . other reasons?” It sounded like I was accusing him of something improper. “I mean, there was only one virgin in this relationship, right?” Great. That sounded even worse.

He reached up and took my face in his hands, the blue of his eyes intensifying. “Of course, and you have every right to be concerned. Will you believe me if I tell you that I have no diseases, carry no infections or anything else that would harm you?”

If any other girl told me her boyfriend had said this to her, I would have laughed at her gullibility and told her to dump his ass and go get herself tested. But I knew Gabriel was being truthful, so I nodded.

“Yes, I believe you.”

“Good.” He pulled my face down so he could sweep his tongue across my lips. “And as long as you welcome my attentions, you know I will take no other.”

“Ah, but how do you know I'm being faithful to you?” I teased.

“Because I would be able to smell another man on you.”

This was a statement that I listened to from my very favorite place, Clueless Land, and as usual, I had no idea what he meant by it. Surely he wasn't being literal? I mean, was such a thing even remotely possible? I wanted to ask him, but Gabriel decided the time for questions was over and focused my attention elsewhere.

Taking my hand, he wrapped it around his thick cock, encouraging me to slide my palm up and down the length of him as his tongue mimicked a similar action inside my mouth. When he was fully erect, I straddled him, locking my knees against his sides and replacing my hand with my body.

Guiding my hips, he moved me slowly up and down the length of him, coating himself with my slick heat, until he exploded inside me in a great roaring rush that triggered my own climax. I collapsed on his chest, panting wildly with my face buried in his neck.

I could feel his pulse thrumming against my cheek, and for a moment I was certain I could smell his blood again. The crisp scent of pine and what I thought were undercurrents of juniper teased my olfactory senses. But I knew I hadn't bitten him this time.

I ran my fingers down the side of his neck, feeling the flow of blood as it raced through his veins. It almost begged to wash over my tongue and slide down my throat, and I wondered if Gabriel had ever wanted to taste my blood.

L
aycee called midweek, inviting me to dinner at her parents' house Friday night so I could bring over the turkey platter and the deviled-egg dish that she never remembered. I was immediately wracked with guilt because I still hadn't told her I was back with Gabriel.

For the first time in my life I was unsure about my best friend. I usually had a pretty good idea what her reaction would be to any set of circumstances, and if I didn't, it wasn't something I lost any sleep over. But this time I wasn't as confident I knew how Laycee would react once she learned I had welcomed, naked, on my back and panting, the same guy who'd put me through the emotional wringer only a few months before.

She had enough lectures in her arsenal without the addition of one that dealt with the hazards of returning to the arms of a potentially fickle boyfriend. But I knew what she'd say: If he'd left me cold once before, then he would do so again. It was going to take a whole lot of convincing to make Laycee believe Gabriel would not dump me a second time—convincing that I just didn't have the energy to expend right now.

“Looking forward to it!” I told her when she called, hoping she wouldn't see through my false perkiness. It crossed my mind, for a total of about ten seconds, to make up some excuse and beg off her dinner invitation, but that would only send up warning flags.

By the time Friday rolled around I was a wreck because I hadn't heard from Gabriel. Apparently he and I have a different understanding of what
you don't have to call
means. I could kick myself for being so blasé. It wasn't that I had doubts or still needed reassurance (well, not much), but I would have thought he might want to just touch base with me, hear my voice or something. God knows I wanted to hear his.

Now it was almost a week since I'd last seen him. I thought about calling but was afraid it might seem as if I was checking up on him. In my book that was a guaranteed first-place finish in the Insecure Female Stakes, which was never a good thing. I was just going to have to trust that I would hear from him soon.

In the meantime . . . self-doubt was a total bitch.

Before leaving for Laycee's parents' house, I wrote a note for Gabriel, telling him where I'd gone and that the spare key was under the mat. I had no idea if he was going to come by or not, but at least he'd know I was thinking of him. Dinner was a blast, and for a few hours I was able to occupy my mind with something other than my absent boyfriend. Laycee's parents were warm and loving, and it had been too long since I'd last enjoyed their company. I was glad I hadn't bailed.

The first thing I noticed when I got home was that the note was missing from my front door. Not wanting to take any chances with an errant breeze, I had secured it firmly with enough duct tape that I knew its AWOL status was deliberate. Hesitantly I lifted the corner of the front doormat, only to be disappointed by the sight of my spare key glinting in the porch light. Apparently my offer to Gabriel to make himself at home had been turned down.

I gave in to a brief moment of despondency as I retrieved the key and let myself in. Then I told myself to stop behaving like some lovesick teenager with ridiculous expectations. Gabriel had taken my note and read it, but having no idea how long I would be, he'd decided not to hang around waiting for my return. I hung up my coat and kicked off my shoes, feeling a little better. At least he'd come by to see me.

As she had done every year since I could remember, Laycee's mom had given me a list of items she needed me to bring to make certain Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch. This was in addition to the turkey platter and deviled egg dish. The list wasn't always about food, although I could guarantee a request for my dad's cranberry-apple relish. That was only because I refused to give up the recipe. This year she needed a few extra plates, a pitcher, and a couple of CDs. Hinder with Thanksgiving dinner wouldn't have been my first choice, but I'm all for expanding anyone's musical taste.

I had a cupboard open, craning my neck to see how many matching dinner plates I actually possessed, when I heard the sound of a throat clearing behind me. Snapping my head around, I saw Gabriel leaning against the doorjamb.

“Your door was unlocked,” he said with mock sternness. “Anyone could have come in.”

I shrieked and flung myself at him, my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist, kissing him anywhere my lips could reach. He tucked his hands beneath my butt and returned my affection with a great deal of enthusiasm. After pulling his T-shirt up and over his head, I had my own blouse unbuttoned and off by the time we got to the stairs.

Now that I had a lot more confidence, sex was definitely better. Sometime around one in the morning it went beyond better. Gabriel woke me up and showed me some of the other things he could do with his tongue. My orgasm was close to cataclysmic.

 

Unfortunately, there was an elephant in bed with us. Actually, that's kind of misleading. He wasn't
in
bed with us, but he was standing in the corner of my bedroom. Big ears, big tusks, wrinkled knees, and a long trunk. Gabriel wasn't as anxious about the elephant as I was, but that wasn't so surprising. It was his pachyderm, after all.

As I lay tucked against his side, my mind was going a mile a minute. With my arm across his chest, my leg flung over his thigh, I was enjoying the long lazy caresses his hand was making as it moved across my skin. Well, trying to. Difficult when you're not completely alone. And I didn't want to be the one who mentioned it first.

No matter how much I told myself it didn't matter what Gabriel did when he wasn't with me, it was a lie. It
did
matter. In my world no legitimate occupation is ever referred to as
this and that.
I sensed that if I were to ask, he would tell me exactly what he did for a living, and how he made his money.

The question was . . . did I really want to know?

There was a certain comfort in having a measure of plausible deniability. But what did that mean for this fledgling relationship we had embarked on? A lie was never a promising start, and even though Gabriel had told me no lies as far as I knew, withholding the truth was sometimes worse. Wasn't it? Guess it all came down to perspective. But that wasn't the only piece of baggage the elephant brought with him.

“What are you thinking about?” Gabriel asked, his voice a soft murmur in the dark.

I sighed, “Nothing.”

“Liar.” He spoke the word playfully and stayed his hand on a downward stroke. Gently moving me off of him, Gabriel propped himself on his side and looked down at me. His eyes were sleepy, lazy, and incredibly sexy.

“You have every right to be wary of me and my intentions; your trust is something I will have to earn again. And I know it will take time.”

“Why do you think I don't trust you?”

Catching a lock of my hair, he twisted it gently through his fingers. “I left you before. It is only natural to wonder if I will do so again.”

Bingo. A loud trumpeting sound in my head said the elephant was glad to be partially acknowledged.

“And will you?” I held my breath waiting for his answer, and not feeling the slightest guilt at putting him on the spot.

Dropping my curl, Gabriel put his hand beneath my chin and stroked the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip. His eyes were deep, bottomless pools, and I was drowning inside them. It would be a beautiful, endless death.

“Only if you tell me to go,” he said solemnly. “I hated the way I left you before, but there were reasons for it, Rowan.”

The anguish in his voice was all I needed to hear, and it changed everything. Whatever the reasons, they were Gabriel's, and I was not about to demand he share them. It was enough that we had both been miserable. He kissed me—one of those spine-tingling numbers that could make me forget my own name—and I wanted nothing more than to make sure he kept on kissing me like this . . . forever.

“Rowan, there are things about me you need to know—”

“Gabriel, hush!” I had to stop him before the elephant blew his trunk off. This wasn't the time to hear any confessions. Not when I had the feeling they could be life-changing for me.

Placing my hands on his fabulous pecs, I pushed him down onto his back and straddled him. He opened his mouth to speak, but I pressed my fingers against his lips, smiling as he pressed back against them.

“I know you're not like other men,” I said, smiling down at him. “You don't have a nine-to-five job, and there's an aura about you that spells trouble with a capital T, and every sensible, sane bone in my body is telling me to stay away from you.” I leaned forward just enough to tease him by brushing my breasts against his chest. “I. Don't. Care. If I wanted a regular boyfriend, I wouldn't be lying on top of you right now.”

And it was true. Saying the words out loud dispelled any lingering doubts about my commitment. Consciously or not, I'd made the decision that I wanted to be with Gabriel, no matter what his past or his present. And it wasn't just for the sex. I wasn't that foolish that I'd offered up some brain cells along with my virginity.

Maybe I was just tired of the whole dating scene. The constant cattle market that always had me coming home alone. It hadn't been such a big deal a few years ago, but once I hit twenty-five, that old saying about time moving faster as you got older was definitely ringing true. It wasn't doing a Roadrunner on me, but I could feel it starting to move up a little. And maybe seeing Laycee and Jake together, knowing my BFF was shifting into a different phase of her life, was also affecting me. I knew Laycee and I would always be friends, but the fabric of our friendship had changed now that Jake was in her life. Already she didn't need me as much as she had before. And I was okay with that. It was how it was supposed to be.

I stared down at the man who lay beneath me, saying nothing, giving me the time I needed to gather my thoughts, and waiting patiently for me to speak. He was a mystery, all right, and a part of me still didn't understand why he wanted to be with me, but then that odd little voice blew through my head, and there was a feeling of
rightness
when Gabriel held me in his arms. A certainty that reaffirmed being with him was exactly where
I
was meant to be.

My hips moved with just enough pressure to make him groan and flare his nostrils. I felt the steel hardness of him pushing up against me, but despite his desire, I also saw the shadow I had seen before flicker deep in his eyes. The specter of loneliness could not be diminished that easily. Gently I stroked my fingers along the stubble that darkened his jaw, feeling the slight tension in his hand as it moved down my thigh.

Framing his face with my hands, I stared into his eyes, suddenly picturing the cobalt blue bleeding out and his pupils turning gold. It was an odd image to bring to mind, but I remembered it vividly from that night in the diner. And I knew it was a connection to the secrets he was keeping. I wanted to tell him it didn't matter. I hadn't been frightened then, and I wasn't now.

“I'm not going to deny that I'm curious. I'm female; it's in our DNA.” Smiling, Gabriel tucked a stray curl behind my ear. “Of course I want to know everything about you,” I continued, “about what you do when you're not with me, but I'm not ready to hear it just yet, any more than you are to tell me.” He opened his mouth, no doubt to issue a denial, but I shook my head. “Let me finish this. I don't need details, but there are some things I do need to know, okay?”

Grasping my hand in his, Gabriel pressed his lips against my palm and traced a small circle with the tip of his tongue. “Ask me anything.”

I took a deep breath. “What you do for a living,
this and that . . .
is it illegal?”

He didn't hesitate for a second. “Some would consider it so.” His voice was serious, and even though his reply wasn't the definitive answer I'd been hoping for, it was honest. Any uncertainty or faltering would have sent up a red flag.

“Is it immoral?”

“That depends on your view of morality.”

My eyebrows shot up. That was a discussion we needed to have, and sometime soon.

“Okay.” I paused, unsure of how to phrase my next question, and then I just decided there was no good way, so I spit it out. “Does it involve children in any way?”

His eyes became hard. “Absolutely not. I would never do anything that would harm an innocent!”

It was my first taste of his anger, and while the vehemence of his denial scared me a little, it also sent a warmth rushing through me. Children and animals—there was no place in my life for a man who would deliberately hurt either. I brushed the hard line that his mouth had become with my lips, apologizing for my questions. His tongue in my mouth forgave me.

I raised my head. “Will I be in danger if I know any of your secrets?”

Gabriel moved so quickly I didn't realize he had flipped me onto my back until I found myself surrounded by a white curtain of hair.

“No harm will come to you, Rowan,” he declared, “from either your world or mine. I swear it.”

His expression was so fierce, it pushed open a door in the back of my mind. Unfortunately it wasn't wide enough to offer any real insight, keeping whatever memory lay behind it just out of reach.

“I don't doubt that,” I whispered.

Relaxing his stern scowl, he pressed his lips to my forehead. “I have taken certain steps to make sure you are safe, even when I cannot be with you.”

I wanted to ask him what I needed to be kept safe from, but an unexpected stab of fear pierced me, and the look in his eye said there were some things it was better not to know. Fuck! This was something I hadn't accounted for. Truly serious shit.

And it didn't change a damn thing.