Page 19 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

Laith saw right through it. He shook his head and clicked his tongue, chastising.

“The dumb blonde act won’t work on me, Heather.

I can smell when you’re aroused. I can hear your heartbeat as clearly as I hear your voice.

I took your blood and you were on the edge of an orgasm.

I still regret not fighting harder to see you that night, if only to give you the release you needed. ”

My jaw fell open, which seemed to amuse Laith greatly.

“That long since he tried to make you come, huh? Why don’t you call him up and end it right now? I’ll take your generous offer of blood and I promise you won’t be thinking of him for the next several hours.”

I blinked, forcing myself to remember what was at stake, that my relationship was still worth fighting for. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit tempted to agree.

Four months without sex sucked. Going longer without good sex was even worse.

“No,” I said. “I’ll give you blood and we can…talk. Have drinks, hang out. But that’s it.”

“Until you end it with him,” Laith said, as if reminding me.

“Until I end it,” I agreed. “We’ll just have to be adults and behave ourselves.”

Laith brought a hand to his chest. “Oh, I am perfectly capable of behaving myself. But if a beautiful human with the most delicious blood on earth begs me to make her come? Well, I have to admit that is a weakness.”

I shook my head. “You walked right up to me and kissed me. That’s behaving yourself?”

“Yes. That was me putting my best foot forward before I knew you had someone else and had set your rules with me.” He grinned. “Still my favorite kiss. So far.”

Holy shit, this was going to be harder than I ever imagined. He was just too easy to like. The smiles he put on my face came too readily. Enjoying myself in his presence would not be an act at all.

I drained the remainder of my water, now wishing I’d added more ice cubes. As I sat back, returning his curious stare, I willed myself to be firm. Resolute.

“So, how do we do this outside of the blood bank?” I rotated my wrist, noting how his eyes went straight to the blood vessels just below my open palm. “Do I just say, here, want some blood?”

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

At my stunned expression, Laith’s face split into a grin. “Temkra, I’m kidding.” He took the back of my palm and gently drew my arm toward him. “Yes, I would love some blood.”

I braced myself, waiting for his strike, but Laith gently pushed up the sleeve of my cardigan, examining my forearm tattoo with a curious stare. “What is this?” he asked.

“It’s oxytocin. The love chemical.” Before he could comment, I defensively added, “I’m a science nerd and a romantic, okay?”

Laith lifted his eyes to mine, and I was relieved to see that his expression wasn’t mocking or disapproving. “That’s really cool,” he said softly. “So this is what love looks like? Inside your brain or whatever.”

“Not exactly, but this illustrates how the compound is structured in a way that scientists can understand.”

“I’d like to understand,” he said so quietly that I almost didn’t hear. And I had a feeling he wasn’t referring to how neuropeptides worked.

Laith brought my wrist to his mouth then, his eyes remaining locked on mine as his lips made contact. “It won’t hurt. No numbing gel needed.”

When he spoke, the heat of his breath and soft friction of his mouth on my skin made my heartbeat jump, but not out of fear.

For some reason, I felt a level of trust with this creature that was about to bite into me and drink my blood.

Why exactly, I couldn’t be sure. Because he was funny and put me at ease?

Because he seemed so achingly sweet and sincere, despite being bloodthirsty?

“Okay,” I said.

He hesitated one more second before striking, his fangs sinking deep like a knife through butter.

A wave of warmth came over me, like sinking into a hot bath.

My head leaned back, eyelids falling closed with pure, blissful relaxation.

Then when he started to pull, drawing blood from my vein into his mouth, more sensations layered into my awareness.

My heartbeat pulsing between my legs. Sensitivity all over my skin, but mostly in my nipples, my lips, and my neck.

The oxytocin’s flowing now, I thought hazily.

Frustration took over after only a few more draws of Laith’s mouth.

Each pull was like a caress of every erogenous zone at the same time.

With my eyes closed, it was easy to imagine a hand pressing between my legs, my nipples being plucked by firm fingers, and my neck being kissed by a passionate mouth.

All of it was driving me into a frenzy, but never increasing in speed or intensity enough to make me reach the peak.

When Laith removed his fangs and the sensations faded, I wanted to sob with agony. Just like the first time he fed from me, I’d been so physically aroused that it felt like torture to not reach release. It felt incredible. And it felt wrong because it wasn’t the man I loved making me feel this way.

That man hadn’t touched me with any desire for months.

What disturbed me the most was that I had never felt this intensely aroused with Justin, even when things were good.

I had been turned on and into it, of course, but this was on a completely different level.

I thought the first feeding might have been a fluke.

But twice? The scientist in me could not deny the same results twice.

“Fuck, Heather. Your taste…”

My eyes opened to find long fangs, still coated in my blood, hovering near my neck and coming closer.

I startled and leaned away, pressing myself against the arm of the couch. “Laith? What are you doing?”

He blinked, and some quality in his eyes changed like he was emerging from a daze. He drew back, scooting to the opposite end of the couch. “Sorry. I was really hungry and I lost myself for a second. You okay?”

“Uh, yeah.” I brought a hand to my heaving chest, urging my heart to calm down. “Are you?”

“Mm-hm,” Laith’s mouth was closed as he ran his tongue over his teeth. “I’m good. Sorry to scare you.”

He already looked better. His cheeks were more filled in and the shadows under his eyes were gone. Even his eyes were brighter, softer. Closer to human than animal.

And it was a good thing he put some distance between us. My body was a confusing mixture of scared and aroused.

“Thank you for your blood,” Laith said, a relaxed smile coming to his face. “I feel so much better. Like I just slept for twelve hours.”

He turned away from me, discreetly adjusting his jeans. He was avoiding eye contact and breathing deeply, like he too was trying to come back to normal levels after being wound up without a release.

“Do you want some more water? I’ll get you some.” He grabbed my empty glass and took it to the bar before I could answer.

“Thanks,” I called after him while shrugging off my sweater. I felt mostly normal now, except that my skin still felt too hot.

I examined my wrist where he’d bitten me after placing the sweater in my lap.

The puncture marks were barely visible and seemed to be healing right in front of my eyes.

The redness faded and there was no longer any distinct opening, like my skin had stitched together in seconds with no scabs forming.

I was so entranced by my own wrist that I didn’t notice Laith had returned until he touched my arm. I looked up at the contact, surprised to see anger and tension lining his usually happy and carefree expression.

He dropped onto the couch next to me, now very close and invading my space. I could smell him, even sense the heat from his body. It would take no effort at all to touch his face, to curl up into the solid wall of his chest.

But he clearly wasn’t in a cuddly mood. His eyes narrowed with menace as he stared at my arm, lightly touching his fingertips to the bruises left by Soren that night outside my apartment.

Laith’s voice was low and full of icy rage when he asked, “Who did this?”