Page 9 of The Vampire's Mate

“Holy shit,” I say as Jesse blinks and nods.

At the action, my hands falls from my head back to my lap. I stare at it for a moment, curling and uncurling my fingers to make sure I still have control of it. Jesse leans back and watches, and there’s a small smile on his face when I look back up at him.

“That was weird.”

He shrugs. “It comes in handy sometimes.”

“I bet,” I say, shaking my head and looking back down at my notebook. Taking a deep breath, I ask the next question. “How do you feed?”

“Well, I’ve already explained we don’t rip out throats or drain bodies dry,” he says drily.

“Then how?” I ask, ignoring his tone.

“Well, we find a willing partner. Just like you would when you’re feeling…” He pauses, his gaze darting to my breasts before dipping to my crotch and back up again. “…needy. It can be sexual, or not, but it’s pleasurable for the human, either way. Our saliva introduces endorphins into the bloodstream. It makes the donor feel euphoric. Like the best high they’ve ever experienced. If I bit you during sex, you’d experience the most explosive orgasm of your life.”

His switch from the all-encompassing “we” to the specific “I” and “you” doesn’t escape my notice. And my reaction to it doesn’t escape his. His nostrils flare as heat courses to my center. Just thinking about what kind of orgasm Jesse could give me has me running hot and on all cylinders.

“It’s a melding of the minds as well as the bodies,” he goes on, his gaze dropping once more to my chest.

I don’t look down to see if my erect nipples are visible beneath the cotton of my dress. I don’t want to know if they are. I slowly squeeze my thighs together to ease the ache building between them, but of course, Jesse notices the tiny movement.

He inhales deeply, his eyes falling closed for a second before popping back open to sear me on the spot.

“Do you want to experience it for yourself?” he asks, and I can see the barest hint of fangs beneath the line of his upper lip.

“W-what?”

“I can smell your arousal, Eden. Do you want to feel the ecstasy I bring?”

Fuck. Me.

Right now.

What? No.

I can’t fuck him. If I do, he’s going to want to bite me. And I don’t want that. Do I?

No. Definitely not.

Seriously. I don’t.

I mean…

5

I’M IN SO MUCH TROUBLE

I did not take Jesse up on his offer.

Of course, I didn’t. I just met him yesterday. Okay, fine. That’s no excuse, considering I went over there earlier with the sole intention of trying to seduce him.

But he’s a vampire.

How does that even work? If his heart doesn’t pump blood, how would his cock get hard?

My eyes widen as a new thought hits. What if, like the rest of his body, it’s just…hard all the time?

I close my eyes, cutting off my view of the ceiling above me. I’ve been lying in bed for what feels like hours, trying like hell to go to sleep, but Jesse’s words ringing in my ears refuse to let me rest.