Page 72 of Trapped for Her Blood

I shake my head. “No, but…” I look down, ashamed. “I wanted him to.” Ryker is the first man I ever had feelings for, and apparently I couldn’t even go a few days before turning to other men.

“What is wrong with me?” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, baby.” He crooks his finger under my chin and nudges my face up. “No need to be sorry.”

“But I betrayed you. I cheated.”

“Nah.”

His indifference stabs my heart, even if nothing can touch my desire. His attitude is probably a defense mechanism to cover his own hurt. “But now that you’re back I—”

“What you did with them doesn’t change anything,” he interrupts me. “Whatever makes you happy is okay with me.” His finger flicks back and forth over my tight nipple and I suck in a ragged breath that my body won’t let me release.

I see so much affection and desire in his eyes that it’s impossible not to take him at his word, even if I don’t understand it, even if it hurts my feelings.

As his hands continue to tease my skin, I draw long breaths, trying to process everything, but so much of my mind is focused on how he’s making my body feel, what he’s making it need.

And my heart swells at his generosity, his lack of jealousy, and his concern for my happiness.

“Hey.” His expression is playful again. “Fuck them whenever you want. I’d be a massive hypocrite if I expectedyouto be exclusive to me.”

“Oh. Okay.” Thatdidhurt, and I draw away from him slightly.

“Hey, little dove. No. No,” He takes my face in his hands again. “I didn’t mean it like that.” His eyes close for a moment.

“Needing my freedom, that’s who I am, how I’m made. Never before, not in my entire life, have I felt even one iota of a chance that I could make a commitment, to anyone. But…” He closes his eyes, his breaths coming faster, almost like he’s in pain again.

“Now there’s an iota?” I ask softly.

Opening his eyes, he grins. “Maybe even two iotas.”

I laugh.

“And right now—” his voice deepens “—I can fully guarantee that the only woman on my mind is you.”

“I’m glad.”

“What do you know about polyamory?” he asks as his hand strokes my back.

“Poly what?”

“Having loving—sexual relationships with multiple people.”

“Oh.” My back stiffens. “Like Octavia having five husbands?”

He nods. “Octavia is a sociopath, but her having five mates, it’s not unusual in vampire culture.”

“It’s not?” I slide my legs against each other and he runs one of his hands from my ankles up to my thighs, but doesn’t part them like I hope he will.

He shakes his head. “Vampires often have multiple mates, especially powerful female vampires.”

“So you’re saying…”

“I’m saying that, if you want to fuck us all, you don’t need to choose.”

A thrill traces through me, imagining a life with more than one lover. It seems way too much to ask. “But I’m not powerful,” I remind him. “Not even a vampire.”

I lean in, brushing my body against his and lifting my throat near his mouth.