“You’ll also have me,” he said slowly, his voice a possessive drawl, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was jealous.

She paused while the waiter delivered their food, and once he was gone, she asked, “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that as long as you’re in danger, I’m not leaving you unprotected. Either Byzamoth dies, or you have someone at your side.” He tore off a piece of bread. “Someone besides Val.”

“Val is a Guardian. He’s more than capable—”

“I don’t trust him. Not with everything that’s gone down.”

“You’ve made that quite clear, but I do trust him.”

“All the more reason for me to stay with you.”

“Now we’re back to you being an ass,” she snapped, and he actually smiled.

They ate in silence. When they were finished, he walked her to her room, and although she didn’t invite him in, he barged in anyway.

The door closed, something her mouth should have done, but instead she asked, “I know it’s crazy to ask this, but, well, where is this headed? Us, I mean. Where are we going?”

“Where do you want it to go?”

“In a perfect world?” When he nodded, she rubbed her belly, as if that would calm the fluttering. “We’d both go back to the States, and we’d see where we could take this thing between us.”

He smiled, but it was a sad smile that did what her hand could not: quell the butterflies. Killed them, actually. “I wish it were so simple.”

“It’s the virginity thing, isn’t it?”

In an instant, she was sandwiched between his body and the door, and his mouth was at her ear. “Let’s be clear on this,” he growled. “You have no idea how badly I want to be inside you. Standing up, lying down, taking you from behind. All of it. Right now.”

Oh, God. Her knees wobbled, but he wrapped an arm around her and held her steady.

“Not being able to do any of that is killing me. Literally. But strangely enough, I like just being with you. Touching you however I can, whenever I can. So no. The virginity thing is not what will keep us apart.”

“T-then what?” He did something sinful with his tongue against the shell of her ear while rocking his massive erection into her belly.

“I’m dying.”

“Dying to what?” She reached down and brushed her hand over the bulge in his jeans, because the last two times they’d been together, she’d taken from him, and this time she was giving. “Have me get down on my knees?”

“Yes, but…” His voice became strangled. “I mean, I’m dying. Cancer.”

Her chest filled with ice. “No.” She shook her head so hard her hair lashed her cheeks. “No.”

He grasped her shoulders firmly but gently. “Serena, listen to me. I’ll keep you safe as long as I can—”

“You think I’m upset because I need you to keep me safe?” She stepped away from him, eyes stinging and her entire body trembling. “You… you… ass!”

His gaze fell to the floor.

Now who’s the ass?

“Oh, Josh, I’m sorry.” Still shaking, she wrapped her arms around him. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She thought about the times he was sick, and now it all made sense. It made sense, too, why he’d wanted to hang out with her from the beginning.

I decided to make a vacation out of this trip. One of those one hundred and one things to do before you die.

“It wasn’t important.” When she stiffened, because she was going to lay into him again, he added quickly, “Not at first. But now… I just don’t want you seeing a future that’s not going to happen.”

Choking back a sob, she looked up at him. “You should have told me.”

“Why? So you’d look at me with pity, like you’re doing now? I shouldn’t have told you at all.”

“You can’t tell me something like that and expect me to not react,” she ground out, and she knew she shouldn’t get angry, but dammit, this wasn’t fair. They might not have had a shot at a normal life together, but now they didn’t have a shot at any kind of life at all.

“Kiss me,” he said. “Just kiss me and don’t let this get in the way of the time we have left.” But he didn’t give her time to kiss him. Instead, he dipped his head and kissed away her tears, his satin lips wiping away the traces of her pain.

He was right. They shouldn’t be wasting what little time they had together. But how were they supposed to move forward? She wanted to bawl, the kind of sobbing you never wanted anyone to witness because it was messy and loud and left you with red, swollen eyes for a day.

“Hey. You’re not with me, here.” His mouth found hers, and he kissed her so deeply she felt it to her soul.

His tongue stroked hers and his hand came up to her neck, kneading and caressing, making her forget… and how damned selfish was she to let him make her feel better? He was the one who needed to feel good, and here he was, putting aside the fact that he was dying to comfort her.

She was a seriously selfish bitch.

“Josh,” she murmured against his mouth, “you’ve been so generous with me. I want to give you something back.” Though her hands shook, she drew them down his chest and abs. When she reached his jeans waistband, she plucked at the top button.

He closed his fingers around her wrist. “I can’t.”

“I know.” She stroked the back of his hand until he loosened his grip. “But what if I kiss my way down? Slowly. Would you let me take you in my mouth?”

He made a strangled noise and stood still—frozen, in fact, as she stripped him of his shirt. But when she kissed his left pec, lightly, gently, his head fell back and his hands grasped her shoulders. He held her as though he’d fall over if he let go. As though he didn’t want to let go.

She kissed her way lower, reveling in the taste of his skin, his masculine flavor, something she’d never truly tasted before. Not like this. She sank to her knees and used her tongue to trace his navel.

“Serena—” He tried to step back, but he was backed against the wall. Beneath the surface of his skin, he quivered.

“Shh.” She gripped his h*ps with firm but gentle pressure. “Please. Let me do this for you.” She looked up at him, and her heart skipped a beat at the uncertainty in his eyes.

For a long moment, they remained still, until he nodded slowly. He didn’t relax, though, tensed even harder as she unbuttoned his pants. At his sides, his hands clenched into fists, and though he rose full and thick from the opening in his jeans, she somehow felt like this was torture for him rather than pleasure.

How odd that here she was, the virgin, and yet she was having to gentle him, to ease him into this most intimate of encounters.

Her gaze dropped back down to that male part of him, and she couldn’t contain a quick, appreciative noise of admiration. Oh… my. She’d seen and touched guys before, but none had been so beautiful.

Tentatively, she dragged a finger down his shaft, following a pulsing vein that ran the dusky length to where the base flared wide. His entire body jerked, and she heard the click of teeth as he snapped them together. Feeling a little breathless, she closed her fist around him and stroked, her palm moving slowly from tip to base and back.

“I like how you feel,” she whispered, and his moan drifted down to her, a soft sound of approval that flowed over her like syrup. “You’re like satin over marble.”

She added her other hand now, using one to concentrate motion at the tip, and the other to stroke the length of his shaft. He sucked air through his teeth, but as she worked him, he relaxed, began rolling his h*ps toward her, subtle thrusts into her hands.

A milky bead formed at the tip. Mouth watering, she leaned in, but his body went two-by-four stiff, so she dropped her head to kiss his inner thigh. Slowly, she worked her way up, still stroking, still holding him with the reverence he deserved.

“Serena,” he rasped, his hands closing on her shoulders once more. “This… I don’t know…”

Before he could protest further, she took him into her mouth.

His entire body surged forward. She gripped his hips, holding him steady. He tasted rich and earthy, the dramatic, luxurious notes much like fine Black Sea salt. Cupping his heavy sac, she licked the head of him, flicking her tongue back and forth over the little slit.

“Oh… man,” he breathed, and then he held his breath when she took him so deep he scraped the back of her throat.

His shaft was thick, hot, and it pulsed when she applied simultaneous suction and tongue action. His groans accompanied deep arches of his back as he began to get into it, and she wished she’d done this sooner, could have given him more moments of pleasure to take him away from his tragic future.

But no, she couldn’t think on that. Not now. This was about him, and she wasn’t going to be sad right this second. There was time for that later.

Gently, she squeezed his sac, and he shouted with pleasure. Though she didn’t have experience with this, she knew instinctively to suck, to stroke, to lick… and she learned quickly where he was the most sensitive.

His hands came down to pet her hair, his fingers tender, his touch firm. It struck her then that she’d felt guilty about taking pleasure from him and giving none back… but as she measured his responses, listened, touched, tasted, she realized that giving pleasure was as much a gift as taking.

Nineteen

Wraith’s heart pounded so hard he was pretty sure it was going to explode. Hell, he was going to explode. He had never allowed a female go down on him. Too intimate, too dangerous, especially when most of your sex partners had teeth like needles.

But what Serena was doing was… extraordinary.

The warm, wet depths of her mouth took all of him, and though he knew she was unskilled, he couldn’t imagine anything better than this. He could feel the care in her touch, could see it in the way she watched him for every reaction.

The sight of her pink tongue slipping out to swirl around the head of his c**k had him clenching his hands into fists.

Serena did something amazing with her teeth, and he hissed with pleasure. His c**k pulsed, dangerously close to release. His vision grew sharp and his fangs began to descend, and he knew his eyes had gone gold. Closing them, he kicked his head back against the wall and concentrated on the slow sweeps of her tongue back and forth on the sensitive ridge of his glans and on the twisting action she’d added to each stroke of her fist from his balls to where her mouth capped the head.

Oh, yeah, he was close….

She moaned, a low purr that vibrated her lips and made him cry out. He pulled in a ragged breath and palmed the wall behind him, partly to keep himself upright and partly to keep from grabbing her head and thrusting as the last of his control slipped away.

“Serena,” he gasped. “Gods, that feels good… oh, yeah… just like that.” He panted, h*ps jerking so hard he couldn’t control it anymore. “I’m going to come… fuck.”

His orgasm blasted through him, more powerful than any he’d ever experienced. It shot up his spine and blasted fireworks in his brain. Serena kept licking and sucking and dragging her thumb along the seam between his balls, adding layers to his cl**ax and keeping it going in sharp, pulsing bursts.

Gradually he came back down to earth, his muscles twitching as they unlocked. He willed his fangs to retreat back into his gums, and as his vision and hearing came back online, he heard what sounded like panting.

Oh, shit.

“Don’t swallow,” he barked, but it was too late. Serena was still on her knees, her fingers digging into his thighs, her eyes glazed over and her face flushed. The scent of lust billowed up like a cloud from her, slamming into him and revving his libido all over again.

“Josh,” she whispered, throwing her head back in ecstasy as she ran her hands up and down his legs. “What… what’s happening?”

Shit, shit, shit. Seminus demon ejaculate was a powerful aphrodisiac. His brothers had talked endlessly about the effects, but he hadn’t paid much attention.

Now he wished he had.

Serena dragged her hand down her chest, hissing a little when her thumb brushed one breast. “This is good… so good…”

“Ah… someone must have slipped something in your drink at dinner. Just relax.” Relax. Great freaking idea, given how she was peeling out of her clothes and touching herself.

In less time than it took to leap through a Harrowgate, she was na**d and rubbing against Wraith like a Trillah demon in heat, practically purring, and all the while nipping at the skin of his shoulders and neck. He’d never let any female bite him. Ever.

But when she took his flesh between her teeth, pain popped along his nerve endings, along with a rush of pleasure so intense he wished she’d bite harder. Draw blood. Take nourishment from him so she could thrive.

Except she wasn’t a vampire, and if she were, he sure as hell wouldn’t be here with her.

“Touch me, Josh,” she said against his throat. She laid her hand over his and pushed it between their bodies, between her legs. “There… yes, oh, yes.”

Man, he felt like a virgin himself, all nervous and freaked out, and he had no idea why.

“Jesus, you’re wet,” he rasped. His fingers delved into her cream, and that was all it took. She cried out, her body undulating wildly as she crested.

“M-more,” she whispered, even before she’d come down, and he dragged his fingers up through her slit, barely skimming her swollen knot of nerves. Again she cried out, bucking and riding his hand, over and over until he lost count of her orgasms.