First Love: A Superbundle Boxed Set of Seven New Adult Romances (66 page)

"Because you're a brilliant, gorgeous billionaire."

"That covers w
hy me,"
he said, hoping to deflect the question. "I must admit, I am quite the charmer."

"Why
me
?"

She did not look away, and he pressed his tongue against his lower lip, unsure how to answer.

"Are you fishing for compliments?" he asked, finally.

"I'm curious."

"I know," Robb said, seizing on the word. "And
that's
why."

"What?"

"You're curious. You're smart and curious, and there's a spark of fire in you. And you have the most wonderful breasts possible." He lay his head down on her chest and began to kiss the side of the soft mound of flesh. Small kisses meant to tickle her. Liz giggled and squirmed in his arm. Her curves were delicious wriggling against his body, and it was all he could do not to start making love to her then and there.

"Come on—"

"No. Actually. I take that back. These breasts aren't even possible. They're impossibly wonderful. Look at those perfectly pink nipples!" He kissed them, his tongue teasing the nub. She squealed, her laughter echoing through the bedroom.

"You're special," he said, once her laughter had died down and she was no longer gasping for air. With any other girl, he would be smooth talking her in and out of his bed in a minute flat. With Liz, though, he felt tongue-tied. He didn't know how to describe the quality she possessed that drove him so wild. "You're curious about the world. About chemistry. You're innocent...a virgin..."

"You didn't know that before tonight."

"True," he said. "But I bet I could have guessed it."

"No way," she said, laughing. Her laughter was so sweet. He wanted to make her laugh forever.

Lord, what was he turning into? He was acting like such a romantic sap. There was no question about it, though, Liz was different than any other girl he'd been with. He didn't know how to treat her.

"No? I could guess."

"Nobody knows. Not Jenny. Not my friends. Nobody knows I'm a virgin."

"It's your deep dark secret."

Liz's expression didn't change, at least not perceptibly, but Robb felt her pulse quicken at the word.

"Do you have any other secrets?" he asked, trying to speak casually. If she were hiding something from him...

"No," she said. She bit her lip. Her heart was beating faster again. He could smell fear on her skin.

"What is it?" He leaned his head on the pillow, his hand caressing her hip. There
was
something she was hiding. "What are you thinking about?"

"
Your
secret," she said. Her eyes seized his as she spoke, and he froze at the words.

"My—my secret?" he asked. His mind raced. She knew. Of course. She had seen. His lips moved soundlessly, suddenly parched. Why would she tell him now?

He would have to kill her.

He couldn't kill her.

But she
knew
.

"It's okay," she said. "I know you don't want to tell anyone. I won't tell anyone. It's hard to let people know something so secret. They would treat you different." Her fingers traced the edge of his collarbone. Her pulse wasn't racing—no, the thumping he heard was his own heartbeat. She was so calm. How?
How
?

"But you still came here," he said. His voice was shaky. "Knowing that I'm—"

"It doesn't matter to me," Liz said. She kissed him, her lips fluttering against his like hummingbird wings. "All that matters is that we're here together now. What happens after...that can wait."

"I'm a monster," Robb whispered.

"No," Liz said. "No, Robb. Don't say that."

"Why are you here? Aren't you
afraid
?"

"Of course I am."

He could only gape as Liz seized both his hands in hers and kissed his knuckles. There were tears in her eyes and her fingers trembled as she twined them in his.

"Of course I'm afraid. But I've spent my life playing it safe. I'm done. I don't want that."

The tears rolled down her eyes and she continued in a rush of words. "I know it will be hard. But I can't decide what happens to you, or to me. I can't keep living in fear."

This couldn't be happening.
In his dreams he had found her over and over again. She had spoken these words to him, reassured him. But this was not a dream, no, it was a dream made real. She loved him despite everything.

"
You can't—you shouldn't—"

"Forget the
shoulds
and
should nots,
" Liz whispered. "What do you want?"

Robb choked on the word.

"You," he whispered hoarsely. "Will you let me take you? I want to taste you."

"I want what you want," Liz said. Her hand cupped his cheek. "Just...just be gentle."

"I will." He would do whatever she wanted. He was hers completely.

He took her hand in his, and his eyes met hers in the blue light. The aching desire that had swept through him with that first taste of her blood reappeared in full force. He wanted her so badly, and now he could have her. She wanted it too. She didn't think he was a monster. The miracle he'd hoped for, over the past four centuries...

She looked at him as he kissed her, and he kept his gaze locked on hers. His lips ran down the back of her hand and came around to her wrist. She trembled as he ran his tongue along the vein pulsing just beneath her skin. He sensed the life force running through her body, and as he sank his teeth into her wrist he could not help but moan in pleasure.

The connection.
Yes
. This was what he had always wanted and never known. Her blood flowed into his body and he swam in the sensation of pure ecstasy as he drank her in. The heady aroma, tangy in the back of his mouth, the hot liquid on his tongue. In that instant the connection bonded them together so tightly that he fell headlong into the darkness of bliss. The hunger and the satisfaction came together in waves that rolled over him until he was at the peak of pleasure. Nothing had ever been like this, not with any other woman, not with any other feeding. It was her. Liz.

She was the one
. His one true heart, his soul. He'd found her at last.

A sharp jerk of her arm brought him back to consciousness, and before he could release her she had ripped her wrist away. His teeth retracted, but not in time.

He felt the razor edge of his fangs snag against her flesh just as he opened his eyes and pulled himself back from the edge of his climax.

Liz was looking down in horror. He saw a rush of scarlet come forth from her opened vein. He reached for her arm. He could heal her with a drop of his blood—

"Ahh
!"

Liz screamed and jerked away, her legs pedaling against the sheets.

No. No. Not this.

She scrambled back to the edge of the bed, blood pouring from her arm. Robb crawled toward her awkwardly, his mind whirling.

"Don't—" he said, but she had already rolled off of the bed and was running.
Where was she going? How had he messed up so badly?

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked, stumbling backwards into the living room. Blood ran down her arm, dripping on the white carpet. The blood was smeared all over her naked body, the red bright against her pale skin in the living room lights.

"Stop! Liz!"

Robb followed her out, his mind reeling.
She hadn't known.
But she had said that he knew his secret. What secret, if not this one?

She was at the door now. Blood was everywhere, all across the carpet. His apartment looked like a crime scene. Which, he supposed, it technically was.

"Liz, please—"

"
STAY AWAY!
" she screamed. Whimpering, she struggled to get out. Her fingers slipped against the door handle but the door was locked. Robb saw panic in her eyes as she realized the door would only open on his command.

"Liz, don't—"

"Let me go!"

Liz turned, her back pressed against the door, and held her hands out as though to ward him off. Tears ran down her cheeks.

"I can't...I can't..." Robb stopped in the middle of the living room, not wanting to scare her any more than he already had.

"
Let me go
," she whimpered. In her eyes he saw the same fright that he'd seen in Eliza's, the day that the vampires took him. Blood streamed down her arm and began to pool at her feet. It made Robb sick to watch. Her face was pale, and he didn't know whether it was from the fright or simply from loss of blood. Her blood. He had to save her.

"I won't hurt you," he said. She sobbed and clutched her injured arm to her chest. He took another step toward her.

"
Please... please
..." She turned her cheek against the door, her eyes clenched shut. "Please let me go. Don't do this. Please."

"Liz. Listen to me.
Listen
."

His voice reverberated through the air and she stared up at him, wide-eyed. Her trembling voice was a whisper.

"What
are
you?"

Her eyes were wild, and he knew that the secret she had thought she knew about him was not at all the one he held deep in his heart. He stepped toward her slowly and knelt down in front of her. Her naked body shivered, her ashen skin slick and red with blood.

"I'm a monster," he said softly.

Her frightened eyes tracked his movements as he raised his arm. He let his teeth slip out, feeling the points of his fangs against his bottom lip. She gasped, her stare fixed at his mouth.

There,
he wanted to say.
Did you think you knew my secret? My real secret is much, much worse than any you could have dreamed of.

Without another moment's hesitation, he lifted his wrist to his mouth and ran his teeth slightly against the skin. The point sliced his wrist open and he began to bleed.

Quickly, then, he took her arm and pressed her cut against his. She shrieked and twisted under his grasp, but he held her easily.

"Shh," he said. "This will be over soon." She sobbed, high-pitched sobs that tore at his heart. "Shhh, Liz. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Soon it will be over..."

And then what?

He pushed the thought from his mind. Under his touch he could feel her healing, and after just a second or two he let her go, satisfied that her wound was gone.

She lifted her arm to examine herself, her fingers moving in disbelief over her healed skin, still sticky with blood.

Robb sat back, exhausted both physically and mentally.

His life as he knew it was over. He'd spent a hundred years building a life for himself that would allow him to search for a cure. And in just a few careless moments, he'd thrown away all of his security, all of his prosperity.

He'd admonished Thad for being so rash in his actions, but in this moment he knew that he was no better at all than his old acquaintance. Maybe worse.

Robb closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breath and not the scared girl in front of him, the girl who had made him fall in love after so many centuries of being cordoned off from the outside world. Love. He knew now that was what had bitten him, what he'd been looking for since he had turned into a black ghost. And now it was all over.

He had hurt her. He had saved her. Would he now have to kill her, too?

What had he done?

Chapter Eighteen

Liz stared at her arm where the wound used to be, her fingers running over her skin. It was tender, but there was no sign of the arterial cut she knew had made her bleed so much. And Robb...Robb...

"You're a vampire," she said. It sounded crazy even as she said it, even as she saw Robb's teeth in her mind, the points dragging along his skin. His cut was healed, too.

She shook her head. The facts didn't make sense. The world didn't make sense. Numb chills ran over her skin.

"There's no such thing as vampires," she said. "But you're a vampire." She was still gulping down breaths heavily, and her hands were shaking. She clutched her knees and tried to calm down. A vampire. It must be a dream. She pinched herself once, then again. She ran her hand over her skin again. There had been a cut there. There had. She had seen it.

Robb lifted his head, a look of utter sorrow on his face. He'd tricked her. It was all a trick. Wasn’t it? Why did he look like that?

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you." He reached over her head and she flinched, but he was only getting a jacket from the coat rack next to the door. He handed her the jacket and she took it from him, averting her gaze.

"So you are. You're
that
."

"I'm what?"

"That...I mean, a vampire. You're real." She couldn't wrap her head around the idea.

"I guess you didn't know my secret after all," Robb said.

"Your secret?" Liz remembered what she'd seen in the lab. The results from the cytometer. "The blood! Was that—was that why your blood cell count was abnormal?"

"You tested my blood?"

Liz felt herself blush. Leave it to her to be embarrassed when she had a vampire sitting in front of her.

"I was curious," she said. "I wanted to know why you were like you were."

"Like what?"

"So closed off. Isolated. Why you had your own secret lab. I thought...I thought you had cancer. And now—"

Liz looked down at her hands. The blood was not dry yet, and her fingers were sticky against her palms. A scary thought flashed like the twinkle of a knife's edge dancing inches away from her.

"Am I—am I a vampire now?"

"No!" Robb's expression turned to concern. "No, of course not. I would never—God, Liz, I would never do that to you. It was just to heal you."

"You bit me," she said, her voice a whisper. As concerned as he seemed, he had bitten her. “Why would you do that unless you wanted to kill me?”

Robb shook his head in guilt.

“Never, Liz. I only take a little, and then I heal up the cut. It was never meant to hurt you. Never.”

Liz’s mind flashed back to the memory of him on the couch, the blood on the woman’s skin...

“Was that what you were doing to that woman?” she asked softly.

“Yes,” he said, meeting her gaze with utmost sincerity.

“Why did you bite me on my wrist? So that I could see?” Liz frowned. He could have hidden the truth from her, like he had with the other woman.