The lump in her throat made talking difficult. “I think it’s time to find some new dreams.”
Lucien’s hand tightened on her hair as he tried to keep his surge of emotions under control. Had he heard her right? Was she saying what he thought she was?
“I’d like to go to Bonnaroo next year if it works out, and we’re definitely going to the Download Festival at some point,” she said.
“Anywhere you want to go.”
The gruffness of his voice pulled at her heart, and she stepped into him. Lucien finally released her hair to hug her. He pressed her head into his chest and closed his eyes against the swell of emotions flooding him.
She was so beautiful, caring, and strong, and she was his, but he didn’t dare get his hopes up too much. “Does this mean…. Does this mean you’ll stay with me?”
The hesitancy of his words caused Callie to dig her fingers into his back. “Yes.”
Lucien closed his eyes as he sighed in relief.
“I’m not…. I’m not exactly ready to become a vampire.”
Lucien kissed the top of her head as he rested his cheek against her silken hair. It was becoming increasingly difficult to control himself around her and to keep his impulse to turn her at bay, but she was giving him her life; he could give her more time.
“I understand,” he murmured.
Callie clung to him as love swelled inside her. He hadn’t said the words, but she needed to say them. She’d grown up surrounded by love; her father had always been free with his words, emotions, and hugs, and so had she.
Lifting her head from his chest, she looked up at him. Those black eyes filled her vision, and he gazed at her with a look of wonder that only reinforced her feelings for him.
“I love you, Lucien.”
Lucien’s mouth parted as her words sank in, and a wave of emotion flooded him. Words he’d never spoken to another caught in his throat. Unable to respond, he bent and claimed her mouth.
Chapter Thirty
Lucien lifted her off the ground as her mouth parted and her tongue met his. They’d done this dance often, but her kiss still excited him to the point of making him nearly mad with desire.
His heart raced as he carried her to the bed while her fingers pulled at his shirt. She tugged it up to his stomach and over his chest. He broke the kiss long enough to set her down and pull it the rest of the way off.
Grasping her shirt, he pulled it off and tossed it aside. Following her afternoon training session, she smelled of sweat and baby powder from her deodorant, but neither of those scents could mask her increased pomegranate aroma as it grew thicker on the air.
He ran his fingers over the silken skin of her shoulders and along her black sports bra. Her ample breasts swelled along the top of it, and he couldn’t resist dipping his finger into the cleavage it revealed.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured as he grasped the bra and tugged it over her head.
Callie looked up at him as his ravenous gaze ran over her body. Her toes curled as his fingers dipped into the waistband of her black yoga pants.
“And so sexy,” he said as he tugged her toward him.
The rigid evidence of his arousal prodded her belly as he started sliding her pants down. Callie remained unmoving as he knelt before her to pull them lower.
When she lifted her foot, he pulled off her sneaker and sock before turning his attention to her other foot. When he finished, he could pull off her pants. His hands caressed her calves before rising higher to her thighs; he nudged her legs apart.
She spread her legs wider as he teased her with his fingers while kneeling before her. His eyes latched on her face as he watched her reaction to his touch.
And oh, how she reacted to him. His touch made her come alive as her skin became electrified and her hips swayed toward him.
Lucien drank in her full breasts, rising and falling with each of her rapid exhalations. He’d gotten so he knew her well and could tell when she was nearing her breaking point.
When he pulled his hand away, he relished her groan of disappointment as he rose before her, grasped her hips, and guided her to the bed. He didn’t put her on the mattress but stopped her at the edge of it. Grabbing his sweatpants, he pulled them down his legs and kicked them off. She reached for him, but he gripped her hips and turned her away from him.
Callie started to protest, but her protest died when he bent her over the bed and stepped behind her. Turning her head, she rested her cheek on the mattress as his thighs parted her further and his hands lifted her hips.
Her heart raced as he guided his shaft into her. Closing her eyes, she moaned at the exquisite sensation of having him inside her again. It had been too long since she felt him filling her. The rest of the world ceased to exist as she became centered on the hardness of his body and the thickness of his cock throbbing inside her.
“Fuck,” he growled. “You’re so fucking tight.”
His words and the hoarseness of his voice thrilled her more. He placed a palm between her shoulder blades and pulled most of the way out before slipping in again. When Callie lifted her ass higher to give him better access, his other hand squeezed her hip.
Lucien slid his hand further down her back and then up again as he savored the feel of her silken flesh while her sheath clenched around his cock. Leaning over her, he stilled within her as he kissed her shoulder before turning his mouth to her ear.
“You’re mine, Callie. From now until forever, you’re mine.”
His words caused her heart to stutter a little with apprehension. She loved him, but the idea of signing her life over to him was more than a little terrifying. However, what wasn’t terrifying in this life?
He released her hip to run his hand around to stroke her breast before sliding his hand between her legs. The exquisite sensation of his finger stroking her clit, while his body pressed her into the mattress, was almost unbearable.
When he kissed her shoulder, his fangs scraped her skin, and her breath hitched. Was he going to bite her?
She held her breath while she waited to see what he would do, but she realized he wouldn’t do anything without her permission. Was that something she was willing to give?
Her fingers twisted in the bedspread as her mind spun and her body became his. When his fangs grazed her skin, her heart hammered in anticipation. She was petrified of experiencing that pain again, but she was desperate to know what made the motel clerk sound like she did.
“Do it,” she whispered.
Lucien froze as her words penetrated his thick haze of lust. Had he heard her right? “Callie?”
“Go ahead, bite me.”
Excitement hammered through him, and his pulse pounded in his temples as saliva filled his mouth. He should resist; he’d already tasted her, but doing so again would only accelerate his instinct to claim her completely. Even as he considered denying himself, the demon part of him roared to life.
“Don’t resist; don’t fight it in any way,” he said.
Callie bit her lip as she braced herself.
“Relax,” he murmured and kissed her ear before running his tongue along it.
Callie tried to relax, but her fingers remained twisted in the bedspread as her body tensed beneath his.
Knowing she would react badly if he bit her in this state, Lucien kissed her shoulder. Gradually, she relaxed, and her breathing came faster as her hips pushed against his and her body neared climax. Just as she was splintering apart, he sank his fangs into her shoulder.