Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5) (7 page)

“I love you too,” I managed before his mouth crushed down.  He grabbed my
hips and began slowly pulsing in and out.  He wanted something here. 

I was trying to figure out what, when he held up his palm and said,
“Together?” 

Oh, dear God, yes.  I brought my scar to his, nodded and said,
“Together.”  We were like two waves racing to reach the shore at exactly the
same time.  I was closer, so I closed my eyes and did everything I could to
wait for him.  I squeezed my other hand into a fist.  I bit my lip.  And I
clenched every muscle in my body, which, of course, he felt… and that’s when I
felt him.  Both our eyes flew open and locked on each other’s as the waves
crashed over us. 

His knees gave out and we both crashed to the floor.  This was too much
for him emotionally.  We both knew that.  He softly wept as I wrapped my arms
around him.  I bit back at least a hundred ‘I’m sorry’s’.  My sister’s words
began echoing through my head: “Don’t tell him, Sarah.  
Show him
.”  I
turned my head and began kissing his neck.  I squeezed tight and started gently
moving my hips.  His crying slowly came to a stop and he pulled me tighter to his
body.  He turned his head and stared at me.  I saw anger back in his eyes.  He
opened his mouth to say something.  Good, I thought.  Yell at me, scream at me,
tell me how horrible I am.  Please.  But he didn’t.  He didn’t yell.  He didn’t
scream.  He loved me so much that he couldn’t, and that broke my heart.  He
hesitated for just a moment and then he nodded.  I saw the determination in his
eyes… and the resignation.  He was accepting this pain as a part of his life,
as a part of our future.  Why?  Why the hell would he do that?  And why the
hell would I do this to him?  If I loved him half as much as I said I did, how
could I do this to him?  This wasn’t me.  This wasn’t who I was.  At least, it
wasn’t who I used to be.  Was this who I was now?  I had thought that nothing
about my personality had changed when I became a vampire.  Was I wrong?  Or
would this still have happened with Carlos even if Matt hadn’t changed me? 
Yes, I think it probably would have.  My connection to both of them was that
strong. 

All of this went through my head as he brought his mouth to mine and
began kissing me.  Every inch of me wanted to jump up and start screaming,
“What the hell is wrong with me?”  But I couldn’t.  The last thing I wanted was
for Matt to have to deal with my self-loathing and feel like he had to make me
feel better.  He’d already done that way too much already.  This moment, this
time, was all about him, not me.  It was about healing, not drama. I pulled him
tighter as I finally felt his body beginning to respond.  He stood up, turned
off the water and carried me to the bed, where we spent the next few hours
trying desperately to show each other that the love was still there.

He rolled his head to the side and looked at the clock.  “Shit, I really
have to get to work, Sarah,” he said.

“You sure you can’t take the day off?” I said as I began kissing his
chest, then his belly.  He groaned as I moved lower.  “Wait… honey… God, don’t
stop… no, wait,” he said.

I stopped what I was doing and smiled at him.  “Wait and don’t stop.  Are
you going to make up your mind?”

He smiled, but then reached down and pulled me into his arms.  Guess I
was done for now.  “I really don’t want you to stop, but there’s something I
needed to talk to you about.  I just forgot with all this… well, you know,” he
said as he looked down.  His eyes came back up.  “There’s something really
weird going on,” he said.

“Well, weird isn’t exactly the word I would use, but okay,” I said.

“No, not that.  There’ve been some disappearances,” he said. 

“Disappearances?  What do you mean?” I said.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of bed.  “Come to my office.  I’ll
show you what I mean.  It’s only a few vampires.  About seven.  But something
seems weird about it.”

I looked him up and down.  “Do you think we should get dressed first?” I
said.

He smiled.  I mean he really smiled.  God, that felt good.  “Funny.  Yes
we should.  I’ve just never liked telling you to put some clothes on.  That
just feels so
wrong
to me.” 

Dear God.  That was so tender and sweet that I just couldn’t stop from
reacting.  I wrapped my arms tight around his neck.  “I love you so much,” I
whispered. 

It took a moment, but then he wrapped his arms just as tightly around me
and said, “I love you too, Sarah.”  I wasn’t about to let go first.  Nothing
was going to pry my arms off of him.  Nothing – except for maybe his cell phone. 
It started ringing on the nightstand.  “I need to see who that is Sarah,
please?” he whispered.  I sighed and let him go.  “Yes, Derek?” he said. 
“You’ve compiled the data?  Good.  Yes, I’m on my way.  Thanks.  Bye.”   He
tossed his phone on the bed, walked to the dresser and pulled out a t-shirt. 
“I want you to take a look at this data.  See if you can see some sort of
pattern or something,” he said as he pulled his clothes on.

“Me?  Why me?” I said.

He rolled his eyes at me.  “Christ, you can be so dumb sometimes.  How
many things have you figured out for us?  The process for creating a vampire? 
The Elders and how corrupt they really were?  Malina and her evil?  Jonas and
his soft side that only you could release?  You’re good at this kind of stuff,
Sarah,” he said as he tossed a shirt to me.

“Ummm, Matt?  This is your shirt,” I said.

“I know,” he whispered.

Oh, I get it, I thought.  He wants his scent all over me.  I pulled the
shirt over my head then pulled on the rest of my clothes.  I smiled as he
reached out and grabbed my hand before we headed out into the hall.

A few minutes later as I stood in his office.  “Do you have a world map? 
And some pins?” I said.

“Yeah.  Just push that bookcase to the side.  It slides over,” he said as
he studied the data in front of him.

“Okay, so where did the first one disappear from?” I said.

“Ummm, Juarez, Mexico.”

“And then?”

“Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

“Next?”

“Cincinnati, Ohio.  Then New Brunswick, Nova Scotia.”

“And?”

“Dublin, Ireland and finally Frankfurt, Germany,” he said then he turned
around and looked at the map.  “Are you seeing anything?”

“I’m not sure.  Not really a pattern, but it seems to be moving east,
which is weird,” I said.  I turned and leaned over his shoulder and started
sifting through the pages, to see if anything caught my eye.  Nothing caught my
eye, but Matt definitely caught my heart as he reached his hand up to my cheek,
turned my head towards his and kissed me.  Every time he did this now it took
every ounce of strength I had to keep from crying.  It thrilled me and broke my
heart at the same time.  This was so much more than I could ever ask for… and
so much more than I deserved.

He scooted his chair back and pulled me onto his lap.  “Ummm, honey?” I
mumbled into his lips. 

“What?” he said as he moved his kisses to my neck. 

“I thought you were here to work,” I said.  “Maybe I changed my mind,” he
mumbled as his hand moved up under my shirt. 

“Mmmmm, you might want to think about taking this to our room, unless you
want Derek to hear us… I mean me,” I said.

“No,” he said.

“No?” I gasped as his fingers found my nipple and squeezed:  God, but he
knew how to get me worked up, fast.

“You’ve kept quiet before, Sarah.  Remember?  On the boat?  In Africa?  When
we were searching for Carlos?  Do it again, for me?” he said as he lifted my
shirt and brought his mouth down to my nipple.  I clamped my hands tight to my
mouth, trying desperately to not cry out.  I finally felt like I’d gotten
myself under control, when his hand moved to the button on my pants.  Oh shit,
I thought.  This is gonna be too much.  Way too much.  There’s no way I can
keep quiet now. Both of us jumped as his cell phone rang.  He ignored the first
ring and I thought I might still have to worry about how I was going to keep
quiet.  But he moved his head and glanced at it after the second ring.  “It’s
your sister,” he said as he picked it up.  “Hi Cindy,” he said.  “Yeah, I’m
doing okay.  Uh huh.  Sure.  I do know where she is, she’s sitting right here. 
Okay.  I’ll talk to you soon,” he said then he held the phone out to me. 
“She’s been trying to reach you for a while now.  Left your cell phone in the
room?” he said.  I nodded as I took the phone. 

“Hi Cindy,” I said, then I tried not to gasp as Matt brought his mouth
down to my nipple again, picking up right where he had left off.

“Well, if you’re standing in the same room together, that’s a good sign,”
she said.

“Yeah.  It’s a very good sign,” I said as I tried to push him away.  He
smiled at me and kept right on going.

“So?  Does it seem like he’s working through it?” she said.

I held back a groan as I looked down at him.  “Yeah.  I think maybe he
is,” I said.

“Good.  Be patient with him Sarah.  Don’t push him to do anything he’s
not ready for, okay?” she said.

I had to bite back a laugh.  It sure didn’t feel like I was pushing him
right now.  This was all him.  “I won’t, Cindy.”

“Now, let me talk to him for a second,” she said.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you soon,” I said then I tapped him on the head. 
“She wants to talk to you again.”

“Oh.  Hey, Cindy.  What’s up?” he said.  This was my chance now – my
chance to turn this whole ‘gotta be quiet’ thing around on him.  I spun around
out of his arms and dropped to my knees in front of him.  I saw the panicked
gleam in his eye as I undid his pants.  I slightly listened with one ear to his
conversation as I brought my mouth onto him.  I heard him inhale sharply. 
“Uh-huh.  Yeah, I know.  I will.  Okay, okay, I promise,” he said then he
grunted.  “What?  No, I’m moving some furniture around in my office.  Okay. 
Talk to you soon.  Bye.”  He quickly hit end and dropped the phone on the desk.
“Shit, Sarah.  Not fair.  Oh my God, so not fair,” he said as his hands moved
to my head.  He rested them gently on both sides of my head for a few moments. 
Then he gripped the arms of the chair, arched his back, and shoved the heel of
his hand into his mouth to keep from crying out.

“So, is that what you call it now?  Moving some furniture?  That’s a new
one,” I grinned as I stood up after he had finished.  He grabbed my hips and
held tight.  “Do not think for one second that you got away with anything here,
Sarah Pearl.  It’s your turn now,” he said then he unbuttoned my jeans and
shoved them and my underwear down to my feet.  He picked me up and laid me
across the desk.  Oh shit, I thought, as he dropped down to his knees and moved
his head between my legs.  The moment his tongue flicked across my already
engorged nub, I knew without a doubt – I’m in deep, deep trouble. 

“Matt, please,” I begged.  “Not another one.  I bit my arm on that last
one.” 

“You bit your arm?” he said as he stood up.

“I had to,” I said as I showed him the puncture marks.   I moved to sit
up, but he pushed me back down.  He kissed my arm and licked the trickle of
blood.  “You are not going anywhere,” he moaned as his mouth moved to find mine
and I felt him enter me.  Yep, deep, deep trouble.

“I’m so sorry, Sarah,” he whispered as his head rested on my chest.  We
both had trouble keeping quiet this last time, but, God, it was so worth it.

I lifted his head up so he had to look at me.  “What the hell, Matt. 
What could you possibly have to be sorry for?” I said.

“I’m sorry I didn’t handle this better.  I thought I was ready for it.  I
even told your sister that I wished you would get it over with, that I wanted
it to happen.  I was wrong.  I wasn’t ready for it and I did a lousy job
handling it.  I’m sorry for that.” he said.

I stared at him for a moment.  “Are you frickin’ kidding me?” I said.  “You’re
in my arms, making love to me and doing some wicked, awesome things to me,
twenty-four hours after it happened and you think you’re doing a lousy job of
handling it?  Are you insane?  You are handling this better than I could have
ever hoped for and definitely better than I deserved.”

He grinned at me “Wicked, awesome?  That’s the first time I’ve reached
that level,” he said.

“Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head.  Now, could you move a
little?  I think I have a paperclip stuck to my left butt cheek.”

Suddenly there was a knock at his door.  We both jumped up and started
pulling our clothes on.  I smiled as he reached over and plucked the paperclip
off of my butt.  I tried to smooth my hair down, but my finger got stuck.  Matt
reached over and pulled a staple out of my hair.  I spun in a circle.  “Am I
wearing any more of your desk accessories?”

He pulled me into his arms.  “You are beautiful.  God, I love you so much,
Sarah,” he said as he kissed me. 

“I love you too, sweetheart,” I said.  “Come in, Derek.”

Derek opened the door and blushed slightly.  “Oh, sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay, Derek.  What is it?” Matt said.

“Your eleven o’clock is here,” he said.