Cherry Stem (3 page)

“I wanted it from the start!” He got in my face. “Just not…not the way I thought it was offered.” His voice gradually lost oomph, until the last few words were whispered, his face a study in misery. “I
am
an asshole. You looked so pretty and so out of place, and I couldn’t believe that you just—” He ran his palm over his face. “I’m an asshole.” He brushed his thumb over my cheek. “And I’m so very sorry. Both for insulting you and for screwing this up. I’ll drive you to your place, and then you never have to see me again.”

There was no doubt in my mind he felt bad about what he’d thought and said, but he’d really insulted me. I should just accept his apology and walk away. But maybe I shouldn’t be hasty. I mean, he’d said he was sorry and he’d called me pretty. Too pretty for him to believe I’d genuinely been into him—that had to count for something, right? Most importantly, though, I shouldn’t care what he thought of me. I should feed, have fun, and get out of there.

This time
I
kissed
him
.

I wasn’t in the mood for softness and hadn’t been for a while. I pressed my lips against his violently and invaded his mouth with my tongue. After his shock wore off, though, he took over, his languid pace lulling my sense of urgency. He cupped my face with his palms and withdrew enough that his breath merely caressed my lips. I tried to kiss him again, and he chuckled.

A mewling sound came from my throat. That snapped me out of my lustful haze long enough to push his hand away and crawl onto his lap. I wasn’t the prey, I was the predator, and it was about time Alex knew that. Knees framing his thighs, I undid his belt and pulled hard enough that it came out, ripping a couple of loops in the process.

He unzipped his pants one-handed, the fingers of his other hand bunching around my thong and pulling it aside. Stretching awkwardly to reach his back pocket, he fished out a condom. Since I couldn’t explain why there was no need for it, I took it from him, ripped the packaging with my teeth, and slowly rolled it down his cock. I took my time touching and stroking his long, hard shaft, enjoying his gasps. He was hard
for me
, gasped
for me
, and that only made me want him more; I had the sort of power over him that had nothing to do with physical strength. I relished it.

He grasped my wrist, stopping my movements. Time held still for a second as our gazes locked. I could get lost in those eyes, and that was dangerous. I squeezed my eyelids shut, shifted my grip, and guided him inside my pussy. I didn’t want to look at his face; that might make it more than sex.

His hands closed on my hips, lowering me onto him slowly. Inch by agonizing inch, he entered me, and I wanted nothing but to take all of him in. I couldn’t be patient. There was a void inside me that ached to be filled.

Alex wouldn’t be rushed. “God you’re beautiful…so beautiful.” He caressed my hip bones with his thumbs, and I got goose bumps all over. “I want you so much. Feels so good being inside you.”

His words wouldn’t let me focus on the feeling of his cock. I kissed him to shut him up. I didn’t want to hear all the pretty words when I knew he wouldn’t remember saying them later. I just wanted to ride him until I saw stars.

Suddenly he thrust upward. I sucked in a breath. He was big, stretching my pussy just this side of pain. I liked it, but it wasn’t enough.

“More.”

He fisted his hand in my hair and pulled my head to the side to graze my neck with his teeth. “I didn’t prepare you,” he whispered.

I hadn’t believed he needed to; I’d been wet since his fingers had made contact with the skin of my lower back at the club. I tried to swivel my hips to show him just that, but he held me still.

“There’s no rush. Let me make it good for you.” He pulled me backward and lowered his lips to my collarbone, his free hand fiddling with the laces of my top.

I couldn’t imagine how he’d make it any better. Every nerve ending in my body felt exposed. His breath caressing me set my skin ablaze. “Fuck me.” I slid a hand inside his shirt and dug my nails into his shoulder.

His hips bucked, and he hissed but wouldn’t move other than that.

“Let me make it good for you,” he said again, finally uncovering my breasts.

My keys fell with a happy jingling from where I’d stashed them in my cleavage; I’d left the house thinking there would be no undressing. Handbags, clutches, and the sort aren’t very easy to handle during an emergency takeoff, and I always thought dancing while holding a handbag looked stupid.

Alex, unaware of my self-ass-kicking, fastened his lips around one nipple and rolled his hips. I could do nothing but moan as he began pumping inside me slowly, his shallow thrusts synchronized with the pulls of his mouth. His tongue flicking my nipple sent a tingle down my spine, but it was his cock driving in and out of me that sent jolt after jolt of pleasure to my core.

His thrusts became deeper, harder, adding to the fire he’d lit inside me. He turned his attention to my other breast, his warm mouth making me shiver. I arched my back in abandon, offering more of me to his wandering mouth, his hold on my hip the only thing keeping me from falling backward.

I clawed the air, seeking purchase against his shirt and failing. The silky material evaded my fingers, but I stopped trying. I couldn’t focus on anything but the pressure building between my legs.

Alex pulled me up by the shoulders and gathered me to him. The angle changed, and he started rocking his hips faster, every stroke sending me higher on a seemingly endless spiral of pleasure.

His chest was sweaty against my breasts. My nipples, already tender, throbbed as they rubbed against his glistening skin. I nuzzled his neck, nibbling on the smooth skin over his pulse point. I wanted to penetrate him like he was penetrating me. I wanted to taste his blood. I wanted more of him inside me than I already had. I ran my tongue down the column of his neck and loved the goose bumps that rose when I blew my breath on it.

He bit me.

Blunt, perfectly human teeth dug into my shoulder at the same time he raised my hips and slammed me down on him again. His balls slapped against my ass, and I couldn’t hold back under the sensations assaulting me. My entire body tightened, and the tension in my belly uncoiled in every direction, wiping all logic and turning me into a creature made of pure need. A scream of delight burst through my open lips before I fastened my mouth on Alex’s neck and pierced his skin with my fangs.

I tried to be gentle—if done right, a vampire bite can be painless—but his fierce thrashing under me and plunging inside me made me lose my mind. I drank and drank, drawing more of Alex inside me with every sip. Each pull on his blood made my pussy spasm and drew out my orgasm, his moans music to my ears.

For a few moments there, it was like I was floating. My lips felt dry. I opened my eyes and had to blink a couple of times before my vision cleared. What had just happened was…wow. My brain was too fuzzy to search for the right word.

I licked the wound on Alex’s neck tenderly, closing it. Then I cleaned my lips with my tongue and raised my gaze to his, getting ready for the moment that canceled the whole night: the moment to erase me from his mind.

He smiled at me and held me tighter, apparently oblivious to what I’d done. His chest heaved with panted breaths; his heartbeat pounded in my ears.

I hated that I liked it.

I started to stand on leaden legs, letting his softening cock slip out of me, but his grip felt made of steel despite the blood I’d taken from him.

“Stay,” he said. Though worded as an order, it sounded like a plea.

“I can’t.” I really couldn’t. If I did, there might be no turning back.

He kissed me leisurely, intimately. It was too much. I gave in. “Only for a little while.”

He shifted me sideways in his lap and gathered me to him, tucking my feet snugly between his thigh and the armchair. “I wish there was a blanket down here,” he said. “Or do you…want to go upstairs?”

Upstairs. Where the bedrooms probably were. Where he’d probably want me to stay longer. I should just have gone. Right then.

I shook my head. “I like it here.”

Laying his cheek on my head, he whispered against my hair, “I like it too.”

I stayed there, cuddling with him, for longer than I should have. Unwilling to let go of his warmth, I listened to his heart rate slow down to normal and his breath even out. Once he was asleep, I thought it’d be a shame to wake him and wipe his memory. Instead I watched him until the angles of his face, the curve of his lips, and the smoothness of his brow were imprinted on my mind. My gaze fell to his neck. Despite everything, my bite mark was nothing more than a couple of dots, like pinpricks. I kissed my mark and inhaled Alex’s scent to complete my mental picture of him.

I never allowed myself to fall asleep anywhere but in my basement apartment, and I made sure I was back there before sunrise. The sun coming up doesn’t make us narcoleptic, but it can make us nice and crispy, so I always made a point of checking the sunrise time online before going out—better safe than sorry, as they say.

Well…almost always.

I fell asleep.

Chapter Two

I awoke with a jolt. Sharp pain sliced through my right side. My arm hurt like it had been carved to the bone. I tried to bring it up, see what the damage was, and had to bite back a scream. The pain became sharper, deeper, as if the flesh was being peeled off. The curtain, flimsy as it was, had blocked some of the sunlight, but not enough to keep it from burning the skin of my right shoulder and as much of that side of my back as hadn’t been covered by the armchair and Alex’s arm. It stretched and felt about to tear open with every move I made.

I shrieked—an honest-to-God shriek that I’d thought could only be accomplished by teenage drama queens—and jumped off Alex’s lap to crouch between the armchair and sofa.

Alex’s eyes snapped open. “What—”

“Room without a window?”

Why was he looking at me and not replying?

“Alex!” His eyes cleared and became more focused after I’d barked out his name. “Where is a room without a window?” I hated to think of what would happen if there wasn’t one in the entire house. The sun was low enough now, but soon it’d be streaming in through all the glass panes. Even if I managed to find a spot where it didn’t directly hit me, I’d feel like I was in a furnace.

Cop instincts must have kicked in, because he stood, fully alert now, and pointed to the back of the house. “Second door to your left. Takes you to the basement.”

I took off, leaving him to run after me.

“Cherry? What’s wrong?” I doubted he realized he was yelling.

An unfiltered, stray beam of light found my foot when I paused to fumble with the door. My flesh sizzled immediately, and I cried out.

Alex was by my side now, close enough to see my fangs.

Whenever vampires are threatened enough for instinct to overcome logic, our fangs pop out. It can prove immensely helpful when fighting a shape-shifter or another of our own kind but is all kinds of inconvenient when dealing with the sun and a human bystander.

As I finally opened the door, I saw Alex’s hand fly to his neck. Yup, this wasn’t one of those times when automatically extending fangs would help. “You—you’re…
What are you
?” he asked.

I slammed the heavy door in his face.

He called my name again, then tried to push the door open. Yeah, good luck with that. The door locked from the inside, but even if I hadn’t pressed in the push button, all I had to do was sit down on the steps behind it, lean my back against it, and it wouldn’t budge an inch.

“What the fuck is happening, Cherry?” Kicking now.

I tried to check my shoulder burn but couldn’t. Not because of the darkness—every story you’ve heard about vampires having night vision is true—but because of the position of the burn. It didn’t matter; I knew it’d be healing. I’d fed well, and my constitution was good even without that. “Nothing. Don’t worry!” Well, that was convincing.

He grumbled something about his gun and a lock. Then silence.

Sadly it didn’t last. His voice, calmer now, drifted to my ears. “Come on, Cherry, open the door. I don’t know what’s wrong, but we’ll figure it out.” A pause. “Please.” The word didn’t sound like one he had much practice saying.

I never gave up the habit of breathing. I haven’t needed air in years, yet I still inhale all the time. Like at that moment, when I decided lying wouldn’t really help me. I took a deep breath. “I can’t come out. The sun burns me.”

“Are you photophobic?” It made sense for that to be his first thought.

There was my way out, and I should have taken it. I didn’t. I’m still not sure why, but I think I respected him too much to lie—or maybe I’m just the kind of woman who loses her mind when a gorgeous man has mind-blowing sex with her and then cuddles her until morning. “That too.” Before I chickened out, I added, “I’m a vampire.”

The reaction I’d expect someone to have after such a revelation would be to burst into laughter. Alex sighed. “A vampire?” He cleared his throat. “Seriously? Tell me more about it.”

Wow! That was open-mindedness I hadn’t seen coming. “Well, not much to tell, really.” He didn’t doubt me. He wanted to get to know me better. I tried to put my thoughts in order. “I need blood to sur—” Realization dawned. “You don’t believe me!”

“Cherry…I’m sorry, it’s…” He tapped his fingers on the door, an impatient sound. “No. No, I don’t.”

What an ass! Instead of letting him think I was crazy, I decided to prove I was telling the truth. “Move away from the door,” I said.

“Why?”

“Can you please just do that?”

The moment I heard him take a couple of steps, I opened the door enough for my face to show and my unscathed arm to slide through the opening. I waved at him, then bit my lip and put my hand straight in the sunlight’s path.

The burn was tolerable for a split second but soon made my eyes water. It felt like my flesh was about to fall off.

Alex stared at my blistering knuckles, then my face, eyes wide. I clenched my jaw against the pain and lifted the corners of my mouth in a forced smile, letting my canines elongate.