Page 12 of The Vampire Kingpin (The Vampire Syndicate #7)

Discomfort moved through my chest. I didn’t want to think about how limited our time together was. Three days ago, thirty nights had seemed like plenty to get her out of my system, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“You could stay,” I heard myself say. “After the month is over.”

“As your thrall?”

“As a member of my lair.”

“Really?” She blinked up at me. “I-I don’t know what to say.”

I frowned. I’d figured she’d jump at the chance to join my lair. “Say yes. You have skills,” I added. “We could use a woman like you.”

“Right.” Her eyes shuttered. “Look, I really appreciate the offer. I mean, you don’t even know me.”

That was true, and it wasn’t like me to be so impulsive. On the other hand, if I wanted to keep her out of Grimclaw’s clutches—and I’d meant every word I’d said to him—why not offer her a place in my lair? And I could certainly use a woman with Lark’s skills.

Yeah, right. You want her for her ‘skills.’

I could almost hear Amina’s dry tones.

The woman who’d been staked when I’d misread a situation, pushed a rival alpha too far.

The woman I’d vowed would always come first.

Up until now, that had been easy. No one else had ever come close.

But I didn’t want to think about that now. Not with Lark’s small, perfect breasts pressed against my chest, her beautiful face inches from mine. I kissed her to shut us both up, gratified at how her fingers dug into my shirt as she opened her mouth to me.

I deepened the kiss, sliding my tongue over hers, nibbling at her lips.

She twined a leg around my thigh, urging her center against my aching ridge of flesh. I tore my mouth from hers, moving it to just beneath her jaw. I latched onto the tender skin, sucking hard enough to leave a mark.

When I raised my head, I informed her, “I’m gonna bend you over my chair, just like you were over the pool table.”

She huffed a laugh. “You liked that, huh?”

“Oh, yeah.” I smacked her ass. “You don’t wanna know what I was thinking.”

“No? Try me.” She waggled her dark brows at me.

My mouth twitched up. I couldn’t help it. She was a wild card, continually surprising me. When I expected her to back down, she amped things up, making me smile. And fuck me, but I liked it.

“I wanted to bend you over the pool table right in front of everyone. Pull down your pants. Wrap your hair around my fist.” Sliding the hair tie from her ponytail, I sank my fingers into her satin locks. “Like this.”

Her eyelids drooped. Her lips parted. “I?—”

“You wanna know why?” I asked against the side of her neck.

The smooth muscles of her throat moved. “Why?”

“So I can control you as I ride you. So you know exactly who’s making you come.”

“I’ll know,” she said with an eager hum that sent an answering vibration into my chest. She worked her hands beneath my shirt, smoothing them up my rib cage, then scraping her nails down my nipples to my navel in a shock of pleasure/pain. My dick swelled, threatening to bust out of my pants.

“Touch me.” I took her hands and brought them to my erection, molding her fingers around my needy flesh.

She took over, stroking and squeezing. “You’re so big,” she breathed, which made me want to strut like a fucking peacock.

“Because of you.” I rubbed myself against her palms. “I’ve been ready for you since I woke up. And Lark?” I teased her nipples with my thumbs. “It’s gonna take me hours with this fuckable little body of yours before I’m satisfied. I hope you’re up for that.”

She twined her arms around my neck and pressed her body against mine. “Bring. It. On.”

Our mouths met, clung, our tongues dancing with each other. When we broke apart, we were both breathing hard.

“Clothes off,” I said and stripped her myself, needing to keep my hands on her.

She snatched the cash from her bra before I could touch it, and then glanced at me. “It’s yours,” I told her.

She jerked her head in acknowledgment and shoved it into the pocket of her leggings while I dragged off my clothes.

I pushed down my comforter. “Sit on the bed.”

She perched on the edge of the mattress, hands on either side of her hips, her hair falling over one creamy shoulder. I stepped between her thighs. Her breath caught, the movement lifting her high, pretty tits.

Her eyes lifted to mine. “What about bending me over the armchair?”

So she’d liked that idea. “We’ll get to that.” I wrapped my fist around my erection. “But first, I’m gonna lick you. Make sure you’re ready for my cock. Any objections?”

She gave a quick shake of her head, her gaze on my slowly pumping hand.

I used my free hand to stroke a thumb over her glistening pink center. “You’re already wet for me, aren’t you? Or are you like this because of those men out there?”

When she didn’t answer fast enough for me, I paused, my palm resting on the dark curls of her mound. “Answer me or I’ll stop.”

Her face jerked up. “No! Yes! I mean—it’s you. I’m wet for you.”

“Good. Because I’m the only man who gets to fuck you tonight.” I gave my dick a few more hard pumps, then released it and, putting a hand on the bed next to her hips, slid two fingers into her.

She fell back onto the bed, braced on her forearms, watching me through lowered lids, her teeth digging into her lower lip. “So good.” She swiveled her hips against my fingers, seeking more. “Feels so…damn good.”

“Mm.” I withdrew my fingers, rubbing the knuckles, slick with her juices, over her clit.

She moaned and my stomach clenched. I loved how quickly I could rev her up.

I slid my fingers back inside her, thrusting them in and out a little roughly. “What did you think about while you were playing pool? Were you sticking that sexy ass out for those other men in the Cavern?”

The idea made the primal thing a little crazy. I didn’t want her to want any other men. It was mixed up in her past connection with Grimclaw. That she’d run to a guy like him for help instead of coming to me.

I knew that wasn’t reasonable—how could she have known I’d help her?—but that’s how I felt.

When she took too long to answer, I bit her hip bone hard enough to leave a mark. She gasped and clamped down on my fingers.

I pumped them into her again. “Answer the question.”

“No. I wasn’t. I swear!”

“Then what were you thinking about?” I ghosted my lips over her clitoris.

“Nothing, damn you.”

I made a harsh sound low in my throat. “Do I have to stop? Because I think you’re lying.”

“Fine. I was thinking about you, alright?” Her head tilted back, her ebony hair spilling onto my sheets. “You’re stuck in my brain.”

That was real. I felt her growing wetter, smelled the spike of arousal my demanding questions created in her. The primal thing quieted.

“Yeah? Think about this, then.” I swirled my tongue around her clit. Sucked strongly.

Her hips bucked. “Yes, yes, yes,” she said, the words slurred.

A few more licks and sucks and she was writhing beneath me, her thighs shaking.

I backed off. “Say please.”

I wanted her begging and incoherent. No, scratch that.

I didn’t want her begging and incoherent. I needed it. Needed her to forget everything but me and how I made her feel.

“Please,” she said. “I want it. I…” I brought her to the edge again, drinking in her helpless cries: “More… Please… I need it. I need you.”

“That’s right, you do. I’m the only one you need. Remember your promise? I’m the only man who touches you. The only man that fucking looks at you.”

“I know, I know. I promised…only you.”

“Damn right, you did.”

But I still wasn’t satisfied. I brought her to the edge one more time and held her there.

When her voice was raw from pleading, I rolled on the condom and, lifting her legs, pulled her to the end of the mattress and drove into her, my focus on where we were joined.

“Watch us,” I told her. “Watch me taking you.”

She lifted her head and complied. “Sweet Luna,” she said, her tits bouncing with each thrust. “That’s…hot.”

When I glanced up, she eyed me, heavy-lidded, her face a mask of lust. I angled my hips and slowed my strokes, making contact with her clit with each plunge inside her.

“That’s right, baby. Look at the man whose gonna make you come.”

“Yes.” She swiveled her pelvis, making me groan in response. “Yesyesyes… Please, Spider.”

“ Now .” I slid my thumb between our bodies, massaging her swollen little bud until she broke, hips jerking, my name on her lips.

She was still spasming around me when I gripped her knees and pushed them even wider so I could get that extra fraction of an inch inside her. “Take me, pretty Lark. Take all of me.”

Burying my face in her throat, I scraped my teeth over her skin without breaking it, my fangs literally aching to sink into her.

But the protective part of me, which she’d somehow triggered, put the brakes on.

I’d already fed from her the other night, and she’d been hurt, and healing takes energy.

She needed another night or so to recover.

“More.” Lark’s hands came to my hips, her nails digging into my ass. “Harder.”

Lifting my head, I gave the lady what she was begging for, pounding into her until my release tore through me like an out-of-control train. Beneath me, she was coming again, too, sobbing out, “Spider, Spider, Spider,” like I was some kinda sex god.

Which was how she made me feel, and damn, it was addictive.

She was addictive.

A helpless sound rasped from the depths of my being. I stilled, emptying myself into her, my dick jerking, greedily taking more pleasure until I felt squeezed dry and more satisfied than I could ever recall being.

I hung over Lark’s body, struggling for breath.

She stroked my lower back. “Mm. I like your style, Spider-Man.”

I grunted, incapable of forming even a single word, and nuzzling her beneath her ear, settled my full weight on her.

Not wanting to move.

Not wanting to let her go.

Amina wormed her way into my brain. I closed my eyes, trying to shut her out, until Lark straightened her legs, reminding I outweighed her by at least sixty pounds. I crawled off her, waiting as she scooted fully onto the bed before flopping onto my back beside her.

I stared at the ceiling, bracing myself for the guilt to crash in like an unwanted guest. And it did, but not as forcefully as usual. This was more like the habit of guilt, something I felt because I thought I should, especially after enjoying the hell out of another woman.

Lark rolled onto her side and traced a finger down my nose and over my lips. “What’re you thinking?”

That edge of yearning was back in her voice. I didn’t need to look to know it was written all over her face.

This is where I should push her away. Remind her she was only a body to me.

But she was opening up to me, and I liked that. I wanted Lark to talk to me freely, to feel safe with me.

She started to withdraw, bringing her hand to the mattress between us, and my gut clenched. Rejecting her felt wrong.

I wasn’t sure what she was to me—or what she could become. All I knew was that I wanted to know her better.

“You.” I turned my head, meeting her eyes. “I’m thinking about you.”

She gulped, a mix of surprise and vulnerability flashing across her face. My slow-beating heart gave a single hard thump, the weight of my words hanging in the air.

But I didn’t take them back.