Crimson Debt: Book 1 in the Born to Darkness series (11 page)

“You mean now…like this?” I wanted to bolt
from the room though I knew there was no getting through that damn
bank vault door. But just the idea of him touching me, of his warm,
wet mouth on my skin when I was naked, was enough to make me panic.
He was going to be able to see his effect on me. See when my
nipples got hard, when my pussy got wet. It was going to be
absolutely humiliating.

“Don’t be so upset, Addison. That wound has
to hurt—you’ll feel better when I am done.” Corbin took my hand and
drew me over to the chair. He sat down and took me in his lap.
Beneath his cotton t-shirt his chest felt hard and cool and being
close to him, I could smell a rich, masculine scent that reminded
me somehow of the ocean. Was he wearing aftershave of some kind or
was it just his natural smell? I didn’t know and didn’t care—I just
wanted to be away from him and this whole embarrassing situation. I
sat stiffly on his knees, trying to keep my legs closed as much as
possible, and refusing to relax.

Corbin brought my arm to his mouth and lapped
gently at the ragged bite mark Taylor had left. “I wish you could
relax and trust me,” he murmured as a rush of tingles enveloped me.
“I would never harm you.”

“You’re harming me now,” I pointed out as he
sucked and licked the inner bend of my elbow, making my nipples
harden painfully and sending a rush of heat to the tender V between
my thighs. “You’re embarrassing me and touching me against my
will.”

“Do you really dislike it so much?” He kissed
my inner arm gently, sending warm sparks of pleasure through my
entire body. “Do you find my touch repulsive, Addison?”

“You know I don’t,” I said reluctantly. “You
can tell that much at least, I’m sure. But just because you make me
feel a certain way doesn’t mean I
want
to feel that
way.”

“And what way are you speaking of exactly?”
The black of his pupils had eaten the silver-blue of his irises,
making his eyes look very dark and deep. “Do I arouse you when I
touch you, Addison? When I kiss you, do you find yourself becoming
wet and ready for me?”

I felt my breath catch in my throat. “I…it
isn’t right. I shouldn’t be able to feel this way for a vamp.”

“Because I’m evil? The enemy?”

“Yes, I guess so.” The soft, hot kisses he
was dropping onto my rapidly healing arm as he talked were
extremely distracting and I was finding it hard to think.

“But we are allies now, you and I. Enemies no
longer,” Corbin pointed out. “Can’t we agree to be friends?”

“Friends don’t sit naked in each other's laps
and drive each other crazy like this,” I pointed out
breathlessly.

Corbin smiled. “That depends on who your
friend is and how much you care for him.”

“But I
don’t
care for you,” I
insisted.

“No, of course not,” he agreed soothingly.
“Your body reacting to mine is simply a coincidence—not a response
to any real attraction.”

I opened my mouth to agree with him and
realized he was being sarcastic. “You…” I wanted to hit him but
that would have meant wiggling around naked in his lap and I was
afraid that if I started wiggling I might not stop. I could feel
something hard pressing against my ass and I was pretty sure Corbin
was as aroused as I was.

He kissed the crook of my elbow one more
time. “You’re healed now.”

“I…thank you.” I looked down at my arm, which
was completely unblemished, and back up to his face. “Can I get off
your lap now? Please?”

He nodded. “Briefly. Just long enough to walk
over to the bed—unless you’d rather I carried you?”

“The bed?” My heart began to pound even
faster, this time from fear. “You promised you would barely touch
me tonight. Why do we have to go to the bed?”

“To get more comfortable. And don’t worry,
Addison—you are the one who will be doing the touching.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by that—did he
want me to give him a hand job? But he was already scooping me up
and carrying me over to the big brass bed. He laid me gently on the
green and gold coverlet and then stripped off his own shirt, baring
a chest that would have been mouthwatering if my mouth wasn’t dry
with fear. He was stripping and that meant sex—what else could it
mean?

“Do not fear, my darling,” he said, throwing
the shirt to one side and toeing off his shoes. “I won’t remove my
pants. But I want to feel your skin against mine.”

He went and got the old fashioned full-length
mirror that I had seen in the corner of the room and placed it
right at the end of the bed. Then he settled on the bed beside me,
leaned back against the headboard, and patted the space between his
legs. “Come here.”

“Do I have to?” I asked, already knowing the
answer.

Corbin gave me a stern look. “Your second
punishment is beginning now. Do you really wish to incur a
third?”

“No,” I mumbled and scooted to the space
between his thighs. God, would this ever end?

“Very good,” Corbin said approvingly when I
was leaning back stiffly against his chest. “To begin with I want
you to take down your hair and look into the mirror.”

“Why?” I asked even as I did what he said. It
was mortifying to see myself naked and framed from behind by the
big, blond vampire. Mortifying but strangely erotic too. With my
hair down around my shoulders in a red-gold cloud, I looked very
young and very vulnerable. Corbin’s skin was as pale as mine but he
was so big he dwarfed me, making me feel like a doll or a little
girl in his lap.

“Because I want you to see yourself the way I
see you. Addison, do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

“What?” I met his eyes in the mirror. “What
are you talking about?”

“I said you’re beautiful.” He arched an
eyebrow at me. “Is that really so surprising?”

I frowned. “Frankly, yes. I mean, I don’t
hate
my body but no one is going to be asking me to model
any new fall fashions anytime soon.”

He arched an eyebrow. “And why is that?”

I ticked reasons off on my fingers. “I’m too
short for one thing. Not to mention my breasts are too small.”

“They are perfect for your size.” His large
hands cupped the undercurves of my breasts and I felt myself
blushing again as my body reacted to his touch. “Your nipples are
quite beautiful,” he murmured, brushing them gently with his thumbs
and sending sparks of pleasure all through me. “Such a pale,
innocent pink. I wondered what color they would be.”

“My thighs are too big,” I said, trying
desperately to get my mind off of my now-erect nipples. Corbin
continued to tease them in that slow, lazy way as though he had
forever to touch me. “And I’m not toned enough—I’m too soft.”

He shook his head. “My darling, I have been
hard and cold for over four hundred years. Let me assure you, there
is no such thing as too soft.” He placed a hand on my lower belly,
right above the sensitive mound of my pussy. “The feel of your
skin, the flutter of your pulse when I touch you, the scent of your
arousal are all incredibly beautiful and erotic. See yourself for
what you are and revel in your beauty.”

His words were frighteningly seductive. I
supposed I
did
look pretty good if I wasn’t comparing myself
to some stick figure of a model. My skin was creamy in the
firelight and my breasts, while small, were well proportioned and
very perky.

“I still don’t like my freckles,” I said
desperately, trying to stop myself from falling completely under
his spell.

“Angel kisses.” Corbin dropped a soft,
open-mouthed kiss on my bare shoulder where there was a cluster of
freckles. “That is what we used to call them. They’re beautiful,
just like the rest of you, Addison.” His fangs were fully out and I
watched in the mirror as he kissed a slow, hot trail up my neck. At
the same time I could feel a hard lump against my lower back and I
started to panic a little.

“Don’t bite me,” I blurted. This was the way
it happened—a vamp and a human got a little too close and the drive
for blood kicked in at the same time the drive for sex did. That’s
when you got your feeding frenzy and the human was left looking
like a pile of raw hamburger.

“You still fear me.” Corbin’s breath was warm
against the side of my neck. “Very well, I will not bite you
tonight although I am longing to taste more of your sweet
blood.”

I tried to make myself relax. “No biting, no
spanking, no sex. I still don’t understand what my punishment is
supposed to be.”

“To discover your own beauty.” He kissed the
side of my neck again. “And to show me exactly how much pleasure
you take in it.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

Corbin shifted so he could kiss the other
side of my neck and met my eyes in the mirror. “Touch yourself,
Addison. I want to see you take pleasure in your body.”

“What?” My cheeks were burning. “No. No
way
. Why would you want me to do that?”

“For one thing, it is intensely erotic.” He
kissed my earlobe, making me shiver. “And for another, while I can
give multiple orgasms with my mind, as you say, I am a little out
of practice at giving them to a human woman manually. I need to see
the way you touch yourself so that I can pleasure you.”

“What if I don’t…don’t want you to pleasure
me?” I moaned as his hands came up to cup and caress my bare
breasts again.

“If that is really true I will stop right
now,” he murmured. “Can you prove to me that you’re serious and you
don’t desire my hands and mouth on your body?”

“How…how am I supposed to prove it?” I
demanded, trying to feel irritated instead of aroused.

“Spread yourself for me.” His hand brushed
lightly over the mound of my pussy, letting me know exactly what he
meant. “If you aren’t wet and ready I will let you go right now and
promise not to touch you again for the rest of the night.”

I bit my lower lip. I really didn’t want to
do this—it was so damn embarrassing. Also, I was fairly sure of
what he would see—I was wet and hot and ready from the way he’d
healed me earlier as much as from all the kissing and stroking that
was going on now. Still, maybe if I did this, if I opened myself,
he would be satisfied and not make me put on any further show for
him. The idea of touching myself in front of him—in front of any
man—made me feel hot and cold all over with embarrassment.

“All right,” I whispered. Reluctantly, I
opened my legs, which had been tightly shut. Then, with trembling
hands, I reached down and parted my pussy lips, spreading myself as
Corbin had asked me, baring my innermost self to his penetrating
gaze.

We were both watching in the mirror and
Corbin growled softly as I performed the intimate action he’d
requested. It was a sound of pure lust and it seemed to vibrate
every part of my body.

“Beautiful,” he murmured in my ear. “Look how
wet you are, Addison. You don’t really want me to stop, do
you?”

“I…I don’t know,” I said softly and it was
the honest truth. I knew with every fiber of my being that I should
stop this now. It was illegal and dangerous to be having sex, or
semi-sex anyway, with a vampire—especially one as old and strong as
Corbin. But so far he had done nothing to frighten or harm me and I
couldn’t deny the sensations that rushed through my body when he
touched me.

“You may continue to think about it while you
touch yourself,” he said, bringing me back down to Earth with a
thump.

“What? But…but I am touching myself,” I
protested.

“Addison…” He gave me a stern look. “You know
what I mean.”

“But it’s so
embarrassing.
” I met his
eyes in the mirror. “Please don’t make me.” I hated to beg but I
couldn’t help myself. I had never done anything half this intimate
for a man before and the very idea made me feel like shriveling up
and dying.

He sighed. “You would rather I touched you
without knowing what you like?”

“I would rather you didn’t touch me at all,”
I said by reflex.

Corbin’s eyes skewered mine in the mirror. “I
believe we already answered the question of whether you found my
touch repulsive or not.”

“It’s not you—it’s what you are,” I pointed
out. “It’s that you’re a vamp. This isn’t safe—it isn’t even
legal.”

He shook his head. “I am aware of the
implications of our actions. But vampire or not, I
am
going
to make you come tonight. Whether or not you help me is your
choice.”

“Fine.” I lifted my chin. “I choose
not.
”

“Very well.” He took my hands and put them on
my thighs. “But you must guide me. Tell me what feels good as I
touch you.”

“All right…I guess.” There didn’t seem to be
any way I could stop him from touching me and to be brutally
honest, I was no longer sure I wanted to. The part of me that knew
how dangerous what we were doing was, was slowly being consumed by
pure, animal lust. It helped that he was being so gentle and hadn’t
given me any reason to fear him—other than the fact that he was a
super strong vamp, that was.

“Very good,” Corbin murmured in my ear. Then
he cupped my mound in the palm of his hand and just held me for a
long moment while he continued to tease my nipples with his other
hand.

“What are you doing?” I was feeling hot and
achy and impatient. If he was going to touch me he should just do
it and get it over with, damn it!

“Savoring the moment. Do you know that I have
wanted to touch you from the moment you first walked into my
club?”

“Yeah, you pretty much made that clear.” I’d
been inspecting
Under the Fang
for the last two years and
the first time Corbin had seen me he’d made his intentions and
desires known.

“And now I finally have you in my arms.” He
kissed my cheek and pressed his palm against my pussy. I wanted to
say that he didn’t have me in his arms willingly, although I was no
longer sure if that was true, but just then his hand began to
move.