Sins of the Undead Patriot (22 page)

Strumming his thumb over her nub, he brought her to sweet agony. Then he scooped her to his chest, kissed her temple and slowly withdrew his fingers.

Chapter 22

Vaihan knocked once more. Days without seeing Ms. Waltz and minimal contact with her had left him wondering if their encounter after the explosion was too much, too soon. Or was something else going on? Not since the night at the spa had the faint smell of another man’s musk marked her. Had she ended her involvement with this man when she’d asked him to be exclusive with her?

Meg opened Leera’s door. “Did you park your car out of sight?”

“I took a taxi.” Vaihan smiled at the excitement in the woman’s eyes.

“Even better. Leera is going to be so surprised.” As she held out her hand, glee beamed from the redhead’s face.

Hopefully, Leera would be surprised in a good way. Meg wasn’t Leera’s favorite brainiac. The woman’s people skills left a lot to be desired. Vaihan removed his overcoat and handed the dark wool garment to her.

At the back of the room, Peter leaned against the wall. Despite the thank you email Vaihan sent him for the other night, Peter hadn’t responded. Did Peter believe Leera’s involvement with him wasn’t in her best interest after what happened? All eyes were on him.

The lights went out.

“She’ll know we are here if the lights are on,” Meg said.

Peter crossed his arms and went into the kitchen. Vaihan followed.

“How is my sister doing?” Peter stared at him, his gaze intense.

Wouldn’t he know, or had they not spoken since the other night? It was difficult for him to ascertain what the true point of the man’s question was. “You tell me?”

Chatter buzzed in the background.

“I’m worried about her.”

Understandably. “Go on.”

“She’s fragile, still mending. You could be a way for her to deal, which would suck for you if you have feelings for her.”

Vaihan continued to consider the possibility. “What are you saying?” This had to be that brother talk with the potential male in his sister’s life.

“If you aren’t serious about her, don’t string her along. She won’t recover.”

One moment the man was saying Vaihan could be a distraction, and the next he was telling him not to break his sister’s heart. Not that he intended on being one or doing the other.

“Shh! Her car just pulled up!” Meg shouted from the foyer.

The room grew still. A car door closed outside. Footsteps crunched on the snowy pathway. A key slid in the lock then the door opened.

Everyone jumped up and yelled “Surprise!”

Leera screamed and grabbed her chest. The terror in her eyes unnerved him. Her heart pounded loud enough to drown out all others’ in the room. Beckoning him. He clenched his fist so he wouldn’t rush to her at lightning speed. A few deep breaths, and she leaned on the wall, the hem of her short, flowing red dress ruffled around her thighs from the swiftness of her movement.

Meg went over, spouting words of apology. Peter’s eyes met his. No worries, he got the gist of the talk. What could the man do to him that he hadn’t already suffered? Vaihan had no interest in hurting the first woman who wanted him, all of him.

As she greeted the guests and made her way toward him, he hung at the back of the crowd. Were these people her friends? And if so, why hadn’t she told him about any of them? Meg turned on the music, and a group danced by the fireplace.

Leera reached him and smiled. “Hi.”

“I’m sorry, I was sworn to secrecy.” He leaned in, kissing her cheek. “Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you.” She trembled, and tears welled in her eyes.

Vaihan guided her away from the crowd into the vacant hall. “Tell me what’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just emotional, I guess.” She wiped up the droplets with her thumb. “Birthday blues.”

There was more to the fear, but she wasn’t going to tell him. At least not now. Better he change the subject.

“You look ravishing.” He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since he’d dropped her off three mornings ago.

“Thank you.” Though she smiled, her eyes did not meet his.

Something was wrong. But what?

“Can we talk?” She bit her bottom lip.

Wasn’t that what they were doing? A round fellow peeked into the hall and must have seen them there because he turned around and reentered the living room.

“Sure, where?” Vaihan asked.

She tugged his hand, leading him through the master bedroom into the bathroom, flipped the light on with the fan and locked the door.

“If you don’t want me, just tell me.” She huffed.

Whoa. First Peter, and now her. Had he missed something? Was he not being an attentive partner? He had announced their relationship at a press conference. “I do want you. Every inch of me craves you. Every second of every moment.”

She hung her head and turned away from him. “Then, I don’t understand.”

Join the club. “I got you something for your birthday.” He removed the necklace from the blue velvet pouch and lowered it over her neck.

She glanced up in the mirror. The white gold and sapphire stone heart shone in the light. In the center of the heart, a tiny key dangled.

“It’s beautiful.” Brightness lit her eyes. “Thank you.”

He fastened the clasp at the back of her neck and whisked the curls from her nape, planting soft kisses. “I’ve never felt as I do until I met you. I want to give the same to you.”

“Then make love to me right here, right now.”

He exhaled against her flesh.

She pulled away, spun toward him and crossed her arms. “You want me, just not in that way.”

“How can you question that after what we’ve shared?” He skimmed her cheek with his fingers.

“Because of what we didn’t share.” She closed her eyes.

He’d suspected she was upset that morning. The signs were all there. She’d barely said a word on the ride back to her place, and his attempts to get her to open up were met with dismissal and claims of fatigue.

“Do you have any idea what it was like for me? To have you kiss my forehead then slip into the shower and get off?”

She’d either heard or seen him through the door. He wanted her and his body craved her. There was no deception or efforts to hide what he was doing. Why would he? It was perfectly natural. If when he said that he was taking a shower she had offered to join him, he would have included her.

“I was right there.” She rubbed her forearm. “I could have gotten you off, but evidently, you didn’t want that.”

How could he get her to understand him? He should have explained. “Of course, I didn’t want that. I can only speak for myself, but the last thing I want sex to be in our relationship is quid pro quo. After I pleasured you and your endorphins dropped, I would have been taking advantage of your vulnerable state. I can’t image what fearing for my life brought up, related to the loss of your husband.”

“Wonderful! One more person protecting poor fragile Leera.”

“I won’t apologize for that. It’s my duty, to you–to us. That’s what people who care about each other do. But I’m not a saint. While my mind was thinking about what was best for you, the urge inside me only elevated my need to have you–own you–and aggression grew. Sexual intimacy with a partner has meaning to me. Given all the complications, it can be no other way. I couldn’t take you under those circumstances.”

“Do you know what it’s like to feel your partner doesn’t want you to fulfill them?”

“The fluid in my body can and will hurt you if I slip up. If I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t be so cautious. Every person I’ve loved in my life has died. I brought misery into their lives. I refuse to have that effect on you.”

“Fine. You should just go home. I have no interest in being involved with someone who doesn’t treat me as an equal.” She grabbed the handle of the door.

Vaihan pressed a hand above her and leaned his body into her coolness. “We aren’t equal. You are alive with a life to lose. I’m dead, with you to lose.” As he inhaled, the peach scent rising from her flesh filled his senses. He pushed his erection against her. “Can you not feel that I want you?” He brought her hand over his length. “With each stroke, I relived what we shared the night before.”

“I want you inside me. I want to know what it’s like to be filled with you, and feel the loss for days. Sex isn’t just about the release for me. I need to share all of myself with you and for you to do the same with me.”

“I do want that too,
beaute
, but I have limitations. I’m not human.” If this wasn’t dangerous, he’d have ravished her repeatedly until neither of them could move.

“These aren’t real restrictions, and you aren’t consulting me on what I want, you are imposing.”

He slid his other hand along her side, under her dress. The wet folds of her womanhood met his fingertips. No panties. She did these things to make him crazy. “I love you.” He closed his eyes. “Don’t ask me to do something that can hurt you...please.”

She turned, found the button of his shirt and worked to release one after the other. With her cool lips and tongue, she worked the flesh of his scar, causing his skin to tremble. “I trust you. I know you won’t let things get too close or out of hand.”

He wanted to believe that he could keep it together once inside her, but surrounded by the feel of her, would he lose control? “Promise me you’ll listen when I tell you not to move.” He had always avoided the caution zone.

“Yes.” With her hurried fingers, she released his belt then the zipper to his pants.

The material rested at his thighs. “Say it.” A finger under her chin, he lifted her gaze to his.

“I promise.” She nodded vigorously, while she withdrew his cock from his boxers. “You’re huge.”

Leera lowered the straps of her dress, exposing her breasts and knelt. She brushed her cheek along one side of his shaft, then the other.

As her tongue swirled around the head, he swallowed hard. She descended her lips the length of him. The rhythm of his heartbeat pounded. She glanced up, vulnerability in her gaze. Without fear, she accepted him within her. She had no reason to trust him so completely, and yet she did. Could she feel about him the way he did for her, but just wasn’t able to say it?

A brush of her lips to the tip was followed by a flick of her tongue. She rose. “I need you inside me.”

Hands around the back of her thighs, he lifted her onto the edge of the counter. As he glided the head of his length over her slick folds, at the knowledge of her cool moistness his leg muscles quivered.

“Please, Vaihan.” With her tongue to his scar, she grazed the area with her teeth.

He groaned. The urge raged, a storm of need and hunger inside him. Focus. He would protect her. The width of his cock pressed to her inner labia, forcing the flesh to part. Which created more madness? His shaft vanishing within her or the cool, silky wetness of her insides warming? Once his cock was halfway in, he pulled back and pumped. Heaven existed in glimpses on earth and women were the conduits to its manifestation.

“The heat of you inside me is delicious.” As if drunk with sensation, she slurred her words.

She warmed to the temperature of his body. Juices slid down to the base of his cock. The smell of her arousal saturated the air. He thrust in further, and was met by the resistance of her muscles.

“Harder,” she demanded.

“I don’t want to tear you.” He put his forehead to hers. “Your body will adjust. Be patient with it and me.” Too long had passed since he’d shared a physical connection with someone he cared for.

She traced his lips with her finger. “More please. I want to feel you deep inside me.”

He plunged with quick pumps until he joined his body with hers. “Like that?”

“Yes, but harder.”

Resting the ankle of one of her legs on his shoulder, he stroked into her, holding onto the counter for leverage. With force, he pushed into her.

“Again.”

He complied, bearing down on her. “Like that.” He sped up the rhythm of his intrusion. In and out, he drove into her folds. She held his gaze with her dark eyes. His pelvis smacked against her thighs. As he labored to breathe, his chest rose and fell, and he buried his shaft in her.

She bucked, making his thrusts even deeper. “Vaihan.” She blanketed his mouth with her lips.

He wrapped his arms around her ass and held her up so she would be lower down his cock.

“Please, don’t stop.” Leera coiled her legs around his waist.

In the mirror, her labia slid down his gleaming cock. Her rear opening was coated in her juices. He slid his pale hand to the seam of her bottom and pressed his finger to her sphincter.

She cradled him. “I’m so close.”

Those words tightened the sac around his balls. Fluid rose up. He slowed his motion to delay the build up, to slow his release. Jerking her hips, she bore down. More cum drew to his shaft, then further up.

“Leera, stop.”

She plunged, forcing him as deep as he could go. “Please.”