Page 101 of Immortal Bastard (The Order of Vampires)

“Mmm, well, you just keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll get no objection from me.”

He massaged her scalp a while longer and her body thoroughly relaxed. Finally, he poured water over her shoulders and hair one last time then set the pitcher aside and gathered a plush bath sheet, holding it open for her.

Self-conscious, she bit her lip, a bit of her tranquility fading as she anticipated what would come next.

“No need to be shy with me, pintura. I’ve already seen every inch of you.”

Her belly tightened. They’d never taken things slow until now. Feeling exposed and nervous in ways she hadn’t before, she wished he would just get on with it. At this pace she was going to overthink and worry herself to death, shattering any chance of actually enjoying the act.

Slowly, she rose from the tub and water sloshed off her body. He took her hand and helped her step onto the floor, gathering her into the bath sheet that had been warmed by the fire. The unexpected warmth was another pleasure she hadn’t anticipated.

“Oh.” She moaned, luxuriating in the warmth.

His lips pressed to her back. “You see, you have no cause for fear around me.”

He dragged his lips slowly over the slope of her shoulder, and she sucked in a breath. She was awkwardly skittish and on edge. His hand drifted between the fabric and her stomach, rising slowly to cup her breast as he kissed and nibbled up her neck.

The possessive way he held her spoke of a confidence she couldn’t match. Why was she suddenly shy?

“I should put on a gown.”

As soon as she took a step, his touch firmed, holding her in place and pushing her body into his. “No need.”

His hard length pressed into her back, the weight a heavy implication of the things he planned to do to her. She fisted the towel at her chest. Why was this so intensely difficult? She’d had sex plenty of times before, but this felt different.

He kept touching her softly. Quietly. Reverently. It felt almost…ceremonious.

She wasn’t used to such slow seduction. Slipping out of his arms, she moved to the bed.

“Where are you running to?”

The walls closed in on her. She only had so many places to hide. The corner on the other side of the bed seemed safest. “I was shutting out the lights.”

He waited as she examined the old oil lamp. Twisting the floral screw on the side, she dimmed the light until the glowing flame extinguished, blanketing the room in inky black shadows. Her eyes immediately adapted to the dark, snuffing out any hope of distance or privacy.

Damn vampire night vision.

That’s one, pintura.

Startled by the reminder that he was always hiding in the back of her mind, she frowned. “One what?”

“Profanity.”

Crap.

He chuckled. “There are better uses for a filthy mouth.”

A vision of her on her knees filled her mind. Her scalp tingled, a feather-light tug pulled as if his hands fisted in her hair. He was somehow touching her despite being on the other side of the room separated by the bed.

She scoffed. “And what about your dirty mind?”

“I think you like it.”

Well, he definitely got points for creativity. Her mouth pinched around a smile. He was flirting with her.

He had a way of keeping her off balance. He could go from intense and threatening to playful and seductive at the literal drop of a hat.

Her heart pounded as he removed his shirt. All of those hard, chiseled muscles covering his chest and carving his abs in beautiful relief begged to be touched. He crossed the room, and she took a step back.

“We haven’t had a chance to take our time with each other, pintura. I’ve been looking forward to this.”

“This?”

“Having you, exactly as I want you, as many times as I want.”

She preferred spontaneous. Too much thinking scared her orgasms into hiding.

He toed off his boots and chuckled. “Have I told you what a skilled hunter I am? When I seek something, I find it and claim it.”

He truly reminded her of a predator now. And she was his cornered prey. As he rounded the bed her body turned, mirroring his position so he was never at her back.

“It’s fine to feel shy, little one, but your pleasure can’t hide from me. I’ll drive it out of you one way or another.”

His determination and devotion was another difference between him and the guys she’d known in the past. Men typically didn’t care about anything beyond their own release. She wasn’t used to that sort of attention.

A low growl filled the room and his eyes flashed. “Mind on me, Delilah.”

She didn’t know how to shut off such memories when her brain naturally drew comparisons. She tried to focus on the present as he pursued her with slow, calculated shifts, never truly walking but closing in on her all the same.