Caressed by Night (14 page)

“I am amazed at how well you are adjusting to this new world.

I suppose it is your curiosity that is keeping you here.”

“Honestly, I am surprising myself. And yes, I am a bit nosey.” She gently balanced her fork on the edge of her plate, took up her wine glass, and leaned back in thought. Her brow wrinkled as she took a sip of her wine.

Dimitri dropped his gaze to his food, taking up his fork again.

Reinforcing his mental barrier, he began eating. Everyone deserved their privacy, especially the privacy of their thoughts.

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Kerstyn finished her wine and Dimitri refilled her glass, his eyes still not meeting hers. Their fingers brushed as he handed her back her glass, the touch sending waves of electrifying heat throughout their bodies. Kerstyn gasped and Dimitri flinched back, curling his fingers into a fist, which he placed in his lap.

Silence thickened the air and Dimitri struggled to maintain the blocks he had hastily built. Anxiety tightened his chest as he imagined Kerstyn heading to her room, packing her belongings, and walking out the front door. Everything was happening so quickly. She had learned what he was before they had gotten a chance to know each other. Not to mention the explosive sex. His shaft swelled from the memory of the night before. He would never regret what took place between them nor would he forget, but the last thing he wanted was to pressure her or rush her into anything. She was his intended, but that was no guarantee that she would stay with him.

Dimitri was so consumed by his own thoughts that he had barely noticed when Kerstyn began to speak. Her voice slowly drew him from the darkness that clouded his mind. He focused on her voice.

It was soft, elegant, enchanting; he could listen to her for hours on end.

The rhythmic vibrations danced over his skin, brushed aside his worries and fears, while calming his vampire within. The beast had not liked the direction his thoughts were heading. Kerstyn was his woman and he would not let her leave him.

“Dull,” he said, repeating the last word of her sentence as his brain began to process what she had just said.

“Yes, my life has been extremely dull up until I met you.

Nothing special or exciting has ever happened to me. I am happy Fate has brought us together. Everything about you and your world is exciting and you make me feel special because you're sharing your secrets with me.”

Words escaped him as his heart turned over. She was happy to be with him and experiencing his world.

“I have been hit with a lot of strange and somewhat frightening information, but I’ve always been one to go with the flow, even when things seem completely outrageous. You are a vampire and Silvie is a witch. How much more outrageous can it get?” A smile slowly curled her lips before laughter gripped her. “I never would have imagined my first real relationship would be with a vampire. Or that a vampire would be my first lover.”

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“First and only,” he said, his voice low and gruff.

All humor fled Kerstyn’s body as Dimitri’s burning ice-blue eyes drifted over her. She could feel his gaze pause on her lips and her breasts. Her heart jumped, her pulse spiked, and her breath caught.

“Are you finished eating?” his voice a purr setting fire to her blood.

“Yes,” she whispered.

She had not seen him move, but she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist and draw her to her feet. With a sigh, she welcomed his kiss, rising to her tiptoes. She wrapped her arms about his neck, curling her body against his. She could feel his violent need for her and it drove her mad. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, desperately clinging to him as his kiss grew more frantic, more demanding. Her body raged with need and was bathed in heat. All she wanted was to escape her clothes and press her naked body to his. She needed to feel him move inside her.

Dimitri could feel what she wanted, what her body craved.

Him. Kerstyn needed him. And she needed release. With one swift movement, he brought her up, cradling her in his arms. He headed for his room, for his bed. With a thought, the doors swung open, and the candles sparked with life.

She moaned in displeasure when his mouth left hers. He set her on the edge of the bed, falling to his knees between her open thighs.

She slipped her feet free of her high heels before helping him remove her shirt and bra. Kerstyn gasped in excitement when Dimitri pulled her skirt and panties down over her hips. He tossed them over his shoulder, neither of them caring where they landed.

He pressed his lips to the sensitive flesh below her ear just before he began to kiss his way down her throat. He nibbled her collarbone, his hands coming up to massage her breasts. Dimitri rained kisses over the creamy swells, flicking his tongue over each of her erect nipples, sending shivers of hot pleasure down her spine.

Her hands sought the buttons of his shirt, but he brushed them aside as he gently pushed her further back on the bed. In a flash, he was naked, his large body moving over her. Eagerly, she traced the muscles of his back before sliding her hands down and cupping his buttocks.

Dimitri rose to his knees and Kerstyn’s eyes locked on his long, hard, swollen shaft. She brushed the head of him with the tips of her fingers and smiled playfully when his hiss kissed her ears. Dimitri
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caught her hands, bringing them closer, her fingers wrapping around his velvet hardness, her thumb rubbing circles over the tip. He guided her hand with his, moving it up and down his hard length. Liquid heat coursed through her body as she watched their hands glide together.

She stared in awe as he grew even longer, wider with every stroke.

She licked her lips wondering how he would taste. Dimitri’s growl brought a blush of embarrassment to her cheeks as she realized he had heard her thoughts.

Unable to withstand the friction of her hands on him any longer, Dimitri rolled her onto her stomach and lifted her hips up, his mouth finding her core as his knees hit the floor.

Kerstyn writhed and groaned, her body convulsing as he lapped at her, his tongue toying with her clitoris. Her nails bit into the black comforter on the bed.

Dimitri’s growl of pure satisfaction rumbled the bed as his mouth devoured her, his lips suckling, his tongue teasing as her creamy nectar coated his tongue and slid down his throat. She arched against him, rolling her hips to meet his mouth. Her gasp lodged in her throat as he penetrated her again and again with his hot, stiffened tongue. She was lost in a world of overwhelming sensation, crying out as she fragmented under his brilliantly skilled attack.

With a flick of his wrist, he flipped her onto her back. He remained on his knees. Cupping her buttocks, pulling her hard against his raging body. His hot, full length pressed against her. His name tore from her throat as he thrust in deep, hard. Dimitri clenched his teeth, his fangs growing long. She was so wet, so tight, and her core drew him in, gripping his shaft as he withdrew.

Kerstyn’s eyes devoured him, beginning where their bodies met and traveling up his chiseled torso, over his strong pectorals, up his thick neck, and stopped at his wonderfully sculpted mouth. His lips were parted, his fangs lengthening beneath her gaze, hungry and greedy. She groaned as she envisioned him sinking his teeth deep in her throat, his mouth and tongue sucking her flesh, drawing on her pulse.

God, she knew it would feel amazing, erotic, and take their pleasure beyond the realm of reality.

She hooked her legs around his hips, trying to hold herself in place as she reached up, her hands pulling on his shoulders. Dimitri snarled, capturing her wrists, he pressed her palms flat against his chest, his thrusts growing more demanding.

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“No,” he roughly whispered.

Her thoughts had driven him to the brink and he feared he would lose control. He wanted to know how her blood would taste. He needed to know. He craved it.

Focusing on his movements, he slammed his hips against her, penetrating her even deeper. Her muscles clenched around him, squeezing him. His name kissed his ears over and over as she cried out, her body rocking against him as her heart thundered in his ears and the scent of her orgasm took him over the edge. He clenched his jaw. His muscles aching from the force as he refused to give in to the urge to bite her. His body seized as he ruptured deep within her, his seed spilling deep within her core. The warmth of her body burned him as it greedily took his offering, sucking on him, wanting every drop.

Dimitri fell into the cradle of her arms. He closed his eyes, savoring the perfection of the moment as the erotic storm passed over them, between them. He brushed her hair away from her face and pressed his lips to her temple.

The terrible emptiness that had filled his heart so long ago was shoved aside, replaced by this woman’s light, her soul. She had managed to pull him back from the brink; she had saved him from falling into the realm of the damned.

Kerstyn was his intended. She was not some fantasy he had created to quell the darkness that threatened to devour his soul.

She was a true miracle.

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Kerstyn popped a piece of the Pillsbury pre-made cookie dough in her mouth as she closed the oven door. After rinsing off her hands, she headed back upstairs where she paused in the doorway of her room, assessing the damage.

She had been living here for a week and she had not spent one night in her own bed. Her clothes lay in a heap on her mattress while her shoes were scattered across the floor and her books rested in open-mouthed boxes. She had been working on this mess for the past three hours and it did not look anywhere close to being done.

Sighing, Kerstyn walked over to her books. She dragged the heavy boxes over to the tall, ebony bookcase Dimitri had brought in from one of the other rooms. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she got to work with determination, unpacking and organizing.

The warm scent of chocolate chip cookies wafted through the air, snapping Kerstyn from her unpacking trance. Dropping her dresses, she sprinted from the room and down the stairs, coming to a sliding stop in the kitchen.

She cursed as she yanked the oven door open.

“Why can I never remember to set a timer?” she grumbled as she shoved her hand in an oven mitt.

Setting the tray on the stovetop, Kerstyn sighed, “Hard as a rock.”

She searched for a serving platter, then scraped the cookies off the pan leaving them to cool on the counter by her laptop. She had spent most of the morning searching for jobs online, filling out electronic applications until her eyes began to hurt from staring at the glowing screen.

Glancing at the clock on the coffee maker, she groaned. It was almost five, which meant no one was calling her about a job today. She rubbed her temples as she felt a stress headache coming.

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Kerstyn rolled her eyes as she thought of what her father would say if he knew about her current situation. “I paid for all that schooling and you can’t find a job? I told you that art history was a B.S. field.

You should have done law school,” she recited as she again took up her seat at the island and opened her computer.

She checked her email, nothing but junk mail and a letter from her mother. Kerstyn took in a deep breath and let it slowly escape her lungs before clicking on her mother’s name. She quickly scanned the short, like always, letter. Her mother had heard she and Denise were no longer living together. Naturally, her mother gave her flack for that and for not telling her she had moved though the woman never asked where she was now or how she was doing or even offered to help her.

Typical
, she thought as she hit the reply button. She provided no explanation as to why she had moved, said nothing about her lack of a job, but did give her new address and the juicy information that she was now living with her boyfriend. Kerstyn smiled as she clicked

“send”. Her parents would be shocked to the core to hear she finally had a boyfriend. Rocking their world with surprise had always brought her joy.

Snapping her computer shut, she slid from the barstool.

She simply didn't understand why she and her parents did not get along with each other. They must have wanted her at one point. All her life she had envied Denise because her parents adored her. They had done ballet together when they were young. Denise’s mother took her to every practice, rehearsal, and recital, while Kerstyn’s mother had sent her off with the current nanny.

Pushing aside her memories and the tears that burned her eyes, she stood. There was no need to revisit her childhood. She had been neglected, but lived in a big house in a nice area and was chauffeured around in fancy cars. All she lacked was love, affection, and attention from her family. She could name others who had it much worse.

Walking to the French door, she pulled it open and stepped out into the cooling air, a light breeze carrying the scent of rain. A storm was coming; the darker clouds in the distance seemed to crowd the setting sun. Shaking her head, she smiled as she recalled watching Dimitri from her balcony that first night and her melancholy thoughts were quickly replaced by thoughts of him as her body heated.

Kerstyn crossed the patio and mounted the steps to the spa, enjoying the sight of the warm water as it spilled over the side creating
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a waterfall. Slipping her shoes off, she pulled her shirt over her head before pushing her pants down over her hips. She quickly glanced about the yard. Once satisfied that no neighbors could see her, she unclasped her bra, stepped out of her panties, and sank into the hot, bubbling water. Leaning her head back, she gave a sigh and every muscle in her body relaxed. This was what she needed to treat her headaches.