Caleb (10 page)

“You’d
still be lying in my arms, and I’d still be helping you through this.”

“This
being the physical transformation to vampire?”

“Yes.”

Her
lower lip slid between her teeth. Damn, of all the powers he had, at that
moment the only one he wanted was the one he didn’t have. He couldn’t rewrite
history.

“You
would have given me a choice?”

He
brushed the bangs from her eyes. “Yes. I never would have taken that from you.”

“But
you think I would have agreed?”

“Eventually.”

She
stretched her fingers, pressed with her palms. Embarrassment tinged her scent.
Her eyes closed and then slowly reopened. “Because I made such a fool of myself
over you?”

He
shook his head. “You’ve never been a fool.”

The
roll of her eyes was pure Allie. “Puh-lease.”

He
touched his nose to hers. “You’ve been sweet, funny, incredibly brave, and
tempting, but never a fool.”

“That’s
one way of looking at it.”

At
the edges of her mind there was a fluttering. Was her memory coming back?

“You
saved my life.”

Her
fingers skimmed his collarbone, searching and finding the healthy skin of his
neck, moving over the surface in widening circles. “I remember the wolf . . .
ripping out your throat?”

He
leaned back. “Yes.”

Her
memory was definitely coming back.

She
shuddered, squinting against the dark. “There was so much blood.”

“But
you saved me.”

Her
fingertips explored farther. “There’s no scar.”

“Vampires
heal quickly if they can replenish.”

Her
frown deepened. “That psycho wolf was going to kill me.”

Fear
leapt with the knowledge. He hazed the vividness to a dream-like recall. “Yes.”

“You
didn’t let him.”

He
stroked her cheek. “No.”

Nothing
would hurt her while he lived. There was too little laughter in the world and
too few who knew how to nurture its light.

“He
almost killed you.”

“He
gave it a good shot.”

Her
fingers stilled over his much slower pulse. “You risked your life for me.”

“You
risked yours for me.”

“We
would have made a good pair.”

She
said that as if her turning vampire negated everything good between them. He
chose his words carefully, hating the haunting sadness in her eyes that spoke
of good gone bad, hating he had been the one to kill the romance she’d
envisioned between them. “We still could.”

“No.”
She pushed him away. “It’s impossible now.”

“Why?”

“You’re
a vampire.”

Caleb
probed her mind, caught images of he and she together, naked in a tumble of
bedclothes, the white of the sheets contrasting with the darkness of his skin.
Candles surrounded the bed. A breeze blew in through the window, making the
candles dance and the gauzy canopy billow. It was an incredibly soft, romantic
image. His heart twisted in his chest and his cock went hard. “Ah baby, I can
still give you what you want.”

“You
can?”

“Yes.”
At least the sex part. He wasn’t sure about the romance.

Her
fingertips caressed his shoulders in small hesitant strokes. “Sex wouldn’t be
enough.”

He
could feel the heat rise in her cheeks, see the darkening color. She was
embarrassed. Damn, she wanted the romance, too. “I’d do my best.”

“The
same way you would if we were human?”

“Yes.”
And probably with about the same unlikelihood of success. He’d never romanced a
woman.

He
slid his right hand down her side, grazing her flesh with his nails as he did,
noting the hitch in her breathing, feeling the hunger of desire rise between
them, feeding it. As his fingers curled into the lushness of her buttock and
pulled her under him. His cock slid between her thighs, nuzzling into her damp
heat. She was aroused, and ready.

Allie
caught her breath again and then burst out, “I want an orgasm.”

It
was his turn to blink.

She
pressed her hips up in a silent plea that he didn’t think she realized she was
making. “I’ve never had one and I don’t want to die, even in a dream, without
connecting with y—someone that way.”

He
guessed he could understand that. If a body wanted a miracle to happen, a dream
would be the place to make it occur. “And you’ve picked me to do something
about it?”

Her
“You owe me” made it sound as if he’d be reluctant. When every nerve ending in
his body had just switched their full attention south.

“And
you want repayment in the form of an orgasm?”

She
shook her head, her jaw setting in that determined way it did when she wanted
something. “Not just any orgasm. I want the screaming, lose-my-mind,
lose-myself kind I read about in books.”

She
read about that in books? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! “That’s a tall order.”

He
inched his thumb in, brushing the sensitive crease between her thigh and groin.
She shuddered. She was very sensitive there. She bit her lip, controlling the
response. That, they were definitely going to have to work on. The one thing he
didn’t want from Allie in his bed was control.

He
must have hedged too long because she went on in a desperate rush. “It doesn’t
have to be the real thing. I won’t know the difference if you manipulate my
mind. I just need to think it was real.”

She
wanted him to fake her orgasm for her?

He
curled his fingers under her neck, pressing on the delicate vertebrae, arching
her spine, presenting her breasts for his pleasure. “I don’t have any problem
making love to you, but Allie girl,” he kissed the curve of her cheek, “there
won’t be anything fake about it.”

She
frowned. “I’ve only got the one shot. Once I turn, nothing will be the same.”

“I’ll
still be here.”

“But
I won’t.”

She
believed the conversion would change more than just her physical body. He placed
the next kiss on the mutinous pout of her lips. “I’ve got the picture.”

“Then
you’ll do it?”

His
cock was so hard, so heated with his need to mark her, it could have been all
over for him right there. His conscience insisted he put one truth out in the
open. “You’re asking to make love with a vampire.”

“Your
vampire powers are what make you the man for the job.”

That
and the fact that she clung to the hope that maybe he was a figment of her
imagination. Son of a bitch, he’d never thought to be in such a position. Her
hips tilted up, sliding her moist flesh against him in a blatant invitation.

“When
are you going to get a better offer? Guilt-free, no-strings sex with full
permission to go wild?”

Never.
Because there’d never be another woman for him, and when this was over, when
she couldn’t fool herself anymore that reality was a dream, when he couldn’t
hold the illusion for her, there’d be hell to pay. But for right now, she was
asking him for the one thing he knew he could give her. The one thing that would
be all pleasure. He didn’t have it in him to say no. “It’d be my pleasure.”

She
wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his thighs as if she, too,
felt the nebulous uncertainty of the moment. “Then, please, hurry.”

TWO
minutes later Caleb had a damn good idea why Allie
hadn’t had the pleasure she’d sought in earlier relationships. “Hurry” seemed
to be her defining word when it came to lovemaking. She chased every sensation
like it was the last one coming, blocking any effort to increase it by her
single-minded effort to capture it. The fourth time she tugged his mouth away
from her nipple, he’d had enough. He grabbed her hands and placed them over her
breasts. “Take over here for me for a minute.”

Her
hands sat where he’d placed them as if she couldn’t divine his meaning.

“Squeeze
those pretty nipples for me.”

She
gave a tentative twitch. He reached for the edge of the sheet, pulling it
toward him until he could get a grip. “Did that make you feel good?”

“You
can see me?”

“All
vampires can see in the dark.”

Shock,
dismay, and then outrage chased across her face. “That’s so unfair.”

“And
here I was thinking how nicely it was working out.” He tore a strip off the
sheet, the loud rip punctuating his statement.

Allie
jumped, her head turning toward the sudden sound. “What was that?”

“The
sheet tore.”

“All
by itself?”

“They
don’t make them like they used to.” He pressed his finger to her nipple,
creating the smallest of indents in the plump center. Her eyes drifted half
closed. The tiny nub puckered. “Didn’t I give you a job to do?”

“Yes.”

“Then
why aren’t you doing it?”

“Sheer
perversity.”

As if
his chuckle freed her inhibitions, her fingers tightened on the small peaks.
Too hard, too fast, bringing nothing but discomfort. He sighed. For such an
adventurous woman, she hadn’t taken much time learning what pleased her. He
took first one hand then the other in his, flicking her nipples with his
fingertip in apology. He kissed her palms. “Put your hands above your head.”

She
did it too easily, as if she didn’t connect his tearing up the sheet with
anything happening now. He kissed her again for that innocence, and quickly
tied the sheet around her wrists and then to the center post of the arched
headboard.

Passion
turned to alarm two heartbeats too late to do her any good.

He
shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips when she tentatively tugged at her
bonds as if unable to fathom how they’d gotten there. “Allie girl, for a modern
woman you are amazingly trusting.”

She
twisted on the bed, neck arching in a vain effort to see how he’d tied her.

“I’m
not into this, Caleb.”

“You
don’t know what you’re into.” Of that he was absolutely positive.

“I am
not into pain.”

That
pulled him up short. He paused, braced over her supine body, a good foot from
the prize he sought. “What makes you think I’m going to hurt you?”

She
tugged at her wrists. “This whole BDSM thing.”

He
checked the sheet to make sure there was enough play in the material for what
he intended. There was. “I’m just aiming to slow you down so that orgasm you
want has a chance to catch up.”

That
explanation just made her look put out. “I don’t need to slow down.”

“On
that we differ, and since I can’t control your pain and your hands, we’re going
this route.”

Her
head snapped around. “You said you weren’t going to hurt me.”

“I’m
not. I’m talking about the pain of conversion.”

She
yanked at her wrists some more, frowned, and then added body movement into the
effort to get free. “Stop harping on that!”

“Because
you don’t believe or don’t want to be distracted?”

“Both.”
The mattress bounced with her efforts. “Untie me.”

“Why?”
He straddled her hips, catching himself as the mattress dipped. “I like you
like this.”

And
he did. With her arms anchored above her head, her breasts were pressed up and
out in a pink-tipped invitation that was enhanced by her twisting and turning
that had them shimmying in a provocative display no red-blooded male could
resist.

Her
head cocked to the side and that irrepressible curiosity shone in her eyes.
“Seriously?”

“Never
been more serious about anything in my life.” He balanced the edge of her
cheekbone along the length of his finger. His thumb came to rest against her
softly parted lips. “You’re damn tempting stretched out for my pleasure.”

“What
about my pleasure?”

“That’s
not going to stop until you beg me.” Caleb traced the delicate bone down to her
temple, drawing her lower lip away from her teeth, testing the resiliency on
the moist inner flesh with a gentle press. “And maybe not even then.”

Allie
sucked in a deep breath. He could feel her brain working on that possibility.
Her next breath wasn’t so deep, and when he leaned in, walking his hands up the
mattress so he was propped over her, it fragmented to a gasp. Her lids lowered
and speculation replaced protest. She curled her fingers over the strips of
material and lifted her body in invitation as he braced his hands on either
side of her head. “Talk is cheap, mister.”

It
was a little too obvious a ploy, a little too soon. “Don’t worry, baby, I know
what I’m doing.”

“The
proof is in the pudding.”