Page 37 of A Bond Beyond Blood (The Butcher’s Daughter Trilogy #1)

V inny

I slipped back into bed with Jacqueline, then pulled her into my arms and curled my body around hers.

She hummed softly, but those pretty blue eyes remained closed.

I placed a kiss on her temple, then rested my head on the pillow, content to breathe her in, but also permitting myself to enjoy the silence before we had to get back to business.

We never finished our talk, and now we had multiple new topics to discuss.

I bit her last night, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how she’d be feeling after allowing me to feed from her.

That was a step I hadn’t expected us to take quite so soon, and I worried we’d moved too fast. The last few weeks had been a whirlwind.

Her blood still hummed in my veins, a delicious thrum of satisfaction that lingered long after any feed but seemed even more intense now—because it was hers.

“I offered the kid my apartment,” I whispered.

Jacqueline’s muscles tensed. “What?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “He needs a place to stay...”

She yawned and stretched her limbs, that long, warm body extending along mine.

Curves like hers should be worshipped, so I did what any dutiful disciple would do, and allowed myself to take a quick journey, sliding my hand from her rib cage down, dipping into the valley of her side, then up and over the curve of her hip as she rolled over to face me.

When she opened her eyes and leveled me with that sleepy stare, my cock jumped.

She smiled lazily, then pushed forward to place a quick kiss against my lips. “Good morning.”

“Hey, gorgeous.”

She dragged the pad of her thumb over my lips. “Last night...” She swallowed hard and I held my breath, bracing myself for whatever came next. “That was...” She sighed contently. “It feels like a dream.”

When her eyes closed, I took a deep breath. “Are you okay? Freaked out?”

Jacqueline’s eyes flew open, quickly searching mine. “What? No .” She shook her head adamantly. “No, Vinny, not at all.”

My eyes widened. “Really?” I dragged my hand back up her side to cup the breast I’d fed on last night, brushing my thumb over the faint pink bite marks left in my wake.

Jacqueline shivered and arched her back, pressing her breast more fully into my hand. “Vinny,” she purred, and I growled at the way that single word from her lips could light a fire of need in my veins. It burned up my spine, my throat.

Dipping my head to suck her nipple into my mouth, I flicked my tongue over the tip until it pebbled, then I pulled back and gave it a good squeeze before dropping my hand back to a safe place on her waist. Although, nothing about touching this woman was safe .

Every inch of her called to me on a deep, primal level.

“We have a lot to talk about,” I said, reluctant as hell to do anything but make love to this girl, but if I wanted to move forward with her, the only option was honesty.

She nodded, but her face was pinched with frustration and the sharp, sweet scent of her desire hung in the air like a beacon.

Ignoring that like a fucking champ, I began, “So, first, I offered your ex-boyfriend my couch. It seems like the best option...” I trailed off because what I would have liked to say wouldn’t go over well.

The very best option would be to persuade the kid to move across the country. But it wasn’t my place to decide.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said, gaze flicking back and forth between my eyes. “It shouldn’t be your responsibility.”

“I know. But he’s a baby vampire without a home or a maker; Elias is right. The kid needs help.”

My girl’s lips twitched on a smile. “And you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart...not because you don’t want him staying here.”

Just the suggestion made my hand tighten on her hip possessively. “No, baby, I don’t want him staying here. For one, he’s your ex and he’s back for a reason. And two, he hasn’t been a vampire long enough to have a handle on his cravings. He’s dangerous and I’m not putting you in danger again.”

Jacqueline’s brow furrowed and I winced as I realized my mistake.

“Again?”

I closed my eyes in a long blink, steeling myself for the hardest thing I would ever say to this girl.

“I’m not proud; I need you to know that.

I’m not proud of myself at all, Jacqueline.

” I opened my eyes and searched hers. Her hand on my shoulder had stilled, and I swear I could already sense her drifting away from me.

I exhaled and just dove in before I could change my mind. “I shouldn’t have been training you.” I paused as I considered how to explain. “The moment you walked into my gym, I should have turned you away.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you can’t fight vampires, sweet girl.” I closed my eyes again, my pulse a wild drumbeat against my ribs. “You never stood a chance, and I should have told you that, been upfront with you.”

“You mean because Elias is a king?”

“No, Jacqueline. Because he’s a vampire .

I’ve been training you for this unknown vendetta when I knew you would never survive a battle with one of my kind.

” I scoffed and gave my head a subtle shake.

“Had I known it was Elias? I’d like to think I would have been honest with you, but I’m not even sure of that.

I’m not...” I sighed, gripping her hip tighter as if that would keep her from pulling away from me when she had every right to do so.

“I’m not a good man, Jacqueline. I took one look at you and couldn’t bring myself to turn you away.

You wanted to hire me and I wanted to lose myself in you.

Suddenly all I could think of was being with you every second of every day.

The way I’d wait for our appointments like a child anticipating Christmas.

..” I closed my eyes as embarrassment followed that admission.

“I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you, sweet girl, never looked forward to being in someone’s presence the way I craved to be in yours.

Even at the beginning, when you hated me, I craved you. ”

“I never hated you,” she whispered, her voice soft and tight with emotion.

I blinked long and hard, then forged on. She had hated me, but I understood why. It wasn’t just vampires that gave vampires a bad name, it was men who gave men a bad name. Riccis that gave Riccis a bad name.

I was all of those things and more—and she hadn’t known me from Adam.

Of course she’d hated me

But she didn’t now, and I desperately held onto that fact and the hope that it carried.

“I should have said no, told you there was no chance in hell you could take one of us on, because you’re strong, Jacqueline, but we will always be stronger.

” I paused to let that sink in. “I was selfish. I wanted you too badly to be sensible, and that almost...” My voice caught and I cleared my throat.

“That almost cost you your life.” That last sentence came out in a rush, followed by the ache of anguish and regret settling into my chest, a heavy weight that should have been lifted by exposing my truth, but instead just grew heavier, pricklier.

“Look at me,” Jacqueline whispered, and when I opened my eyes again, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine in a slow, tender kiss. When she pulled back, she said, “I forgive you.”

Emotion wrapped a fist around my heart, squeezing tight. Shame and relief... and love so strong I was thankful I didn’t need air in that moment because I couldn’t have pulled in a breath if I’d tried.

Jacqueline traced my lips with her fingertips, the line of my jaw. With feather-soft touch, she traced her way across my cheekbones. “I should have told you the truth about who I wanted to fight. I’m not innocent in this.”

I groaned. “Stop. You’re completely innocent. You didn’t owe me a backstory, but I did owe you the truth. You paid me to train you and I—”

“Hey,” she said, voice a little louder now.

“You did train me. I got everything I paid for and then some.” She nudged my shoulder until I rolled onto my back, then climbed up and stretched out along the length of me.

Cradling my face in her hands, she brushed her lips against mine.

“And then some,” she repeated, this time with more emphasis. “I got you, right?”

“You got your ass handed to you, Jacqueline.” I reached down and grabbed two handfuls of it for emphasis—and also because I couldn’t get enough of her.

“And here you are, caring for said ass.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “You forgive me too easily, sweet girl.”

“Vinny, listen to me. If you’d sent me away, I would have found someone else.

And, maybe the first few trainers I found after you would turn me away, but eventually I would find one who didn’t.

And maybe he’d train me out of the goodness of his heart.

..” She lifted one shoulder. “Or maybe just for the money, or because he thought it was funny to watch a delusional little human think she could take on a vampire. Whatever the reason, I won’t fault you for what you’ve done.

I can’t . Because it could have been so much worse. ”

I sighed and closed my eyes.

“Do I wish you would have been honest with me from the beginning? Yes, but I wasn’t exactly honest with you, either.

And, if we’d both handled this differently, where would that leave us now?

” She nuzzled her head against my chest, tucked up beneath my chin, then sighed as she relaxed on top of me.

“We wouldn’t be here; I can tell you that much. ”

“A fucking shame that would be,” I said, pressing my nose into her hair and taking a deep breath. “I love you, little Fiorino. I think I loved you the moment you stepped into my gym.”

She hummed appreciatively, trailing her fingertips over the lines of my abdomen, then inching downward.

My skin jumped beneath her touch, cock twitching as it swelled with eager anticipation.

“I...” She paused, her quick intake of breath the softest of gentle sounds, then she gave herself a firm but barely-perceptible nod. “I love you, too, Vincenzo.”

I swallowed hard, the sound audible in the silence.

Closing my eyes, I battled back the rush of emotion that threatened to clog my throat and leak from my eyes.

Relief.

Such blatant fucking relief coursed through me that I questioned myself, my sanity. Surely I shouldn’t feel such overwhelming relief from three simple words, but there it was, obvious in its magnitude.

I truly had thought I’d lose her if I ever told her the truth.

Instead, she just told me she loved me.

“Fuck,” I said on a deep exhale, my voice tight with love and lust and such blinding fucking possessiveness it might frighten a weaker woman. “Show me,” I growled.

She lifted her head, those mesmerizing blue eyes meeting mine.

“Show me,” I said again, the request almost begging in nature. I needed this, needed her to take control. To take me . “Please.”

She whimpered in response to the desperation in that single word, then she bit down on her bottom lip as her gaze flicked back and forth between my eyes.

Her hand dipped under the waistband of my shorts and her warm palm enveloped my hard cock.

I hissed in a breath at the first solid stroke of her hand, and she pressed forward to lick across the seam of my lips.

Each lick of her tongue made her bolder, and when I opened my mouth to her, she groaned as she licked into it, claiming my mouth, my cock, my goddamn soul.

Shifting, she moved on top of me, straddling my hips as she continued to kiss me, stroke me, and drive me absolutely wild with need. My stomach was tight, muscles rigid with exertion as I held myself still. Hers for the taking.

The claiming .

She released my cock and settled her hot cunt over the length of it, rocking her hips as she kissed me desperately, then began digging her nails into my chest. She scathed me and kneaded as she rocked along my shaft, moaning into my mouth as our tongues tangled together fiercely.

I pulled back and gripped her chin with firm fingers. “That’s it, baby, mark me up. Show the world I belong to you.”

Her eyelids fluttered and she slammed her mouth back against mine, scraping her nails over my shoulder blades, my throat, down my chest to my abs. “Touch me,” she said between decadent licks of her tongue into my mouth. “Mark me too, Vinny.”

I growled as I wrapped my hands around her hips and shifted her backwards, notching the head of my cock at her entrance. I held her still, looking up at her pretty blue eyes, her flushed, swollen mouth, that pink sitting high in her cheekbones.

She shuddered beneath my stare, then I winked and slammed her down onto my dick so swiftly she cried out in shock, then trembled from the ecstasy of it all.

Her cunt fluttered as it made room for me, then she made a keening sound deep in her throat—

And began to rock, taking over the motions.

I ran my hands up and down her thighs, her sides, the sweet swell of her breasts.

Teasing her nipples, I pinched them and smiled as she arched.

Then I grabbed her chin in one hand and the back of her neck with the other and brought her face an inch away from mine, her nose almost touching my own.

She panted. I panted. We inhaled and exhaled each other, burning with unbridled need.

“You’re so fucking perfect,” I reminded her. “Your cunt could destroy me, Jacqueline, and I’d love every fucking moment of the death march.”

She gasped and rocked forward, moaning when I lifted my hips to hit deeper, then she dropped her gaze to my chest and her brows furrowed.

The marks she’d left on my flesh had already healed. I’d known they would, but her frustration made my cock twitch with a fresh wave of need.

With a smirk, I tightened my grip on her chin until she looked back up at me, then gently kissed the side of her mouth, pressing soft kisses along her jaw until I reached her ear.

There, I whispered, “You’ve already marked the most important part of me, sweet girl. My heart’s branded with your fucking name.”