Groaning, he slid his hands down her back, slipped them beneath her T-shirt to cup her firm, bare ass, and urged her against his erection.

“Take your clothes off,” she ordered, dragging kisses across his jaw, nipping his neck just beneath his ear. “I want to feel your skin against mine.”

Marcus couldn’t comply fast enough, tearing the shirt from his torso with preternatural speed.

Ami rose onto her knees, still straddling him, tempting him with kisses and running her hands all over his naked chest and back as he scrambled to remove his pants, socks, and boots.

As soon as all were strewn across the room, Ami whipped the T-shirt over her head.

Marcus immediately leaned forward, lips fastening on the pink tip of one full breast and sucking hard as he filled his palm with the other.

Skin so soft. A scent that warmed his blood like the most potent aphrodisiac.

He closed his teeth on one taut bud, rolled the other between thumb and forefinger.

Ami groaned, melting against him.

Marcus eased her back down on his lap, teased her moist center with his cock.

“Wait,” she gasped. Her small hands slid down and pushed against his chest.

He drew back, wanting nothing more than to plunge inside her, feel her squeeze him tight.

“Marcus, wait,” she repeated. “I want to taste you.”

The desire within him ratcheted up several notches. “What?”

“Last time I didn’t have a chance to taste you,” she said breathlessly.

“Ami, honey, I don’t think I can wait that long to be inside you. Maybe next time—”

But she was already backing off the bed, kneeling in front of him, and taking his shaft in her hands. A long, slow lick followed.

Marcus groaned. Okay, maybe he could wait.

Every muscle tightened as her lips closed over his cock, then drew him deeper into her warm, wet mouth, tongue stroking and making him jerk with pleasure.

“Ami.” Bracing one hand on the bed behind him, he brushed the other over her tousled hair as she drew on him, every stroke and pull eroding his control until he hovered too close to the edge.

“Stop,” he urged her.

Sitting back on her heels, she stared up at him with passion-glazed eyes and flushed cheeks. “Did I do it right?”

“Hell, yes. But I don’t want to come until I’m buried deep inside you.”

Ami’s breath caught. Even his words made her burn inside.

In one smooth motion, Marcus lifted her, turned, and laid her in the center of the bed. His eyes glowed a bright amber, pure desire now, as he stood there for a moment, drinking her in.

Considering the restrictions with which she had been raised, she should feel embarrassed, but couldn’t, not when he took such pleasure in it. Ami drank him in as well. His muscled chest rose and fell as quickly as her own. His eight-pack abs rippled and flexed, drawing her gaze down to his erection, which boldly strained toward her.

He called it his cock. She rolled the word around in her head, liking it, wishing she weren’t too shy still to tell Marcus to plunge his cock inside her. Now.

Marcus’s large hands shook as they grasped her ankles, drew her legs apart.

Ami’s already fast heartbeat tripled.

His movements agonizingly slow, he pushed her feet back until they were planted on the bed not far from her bottom, knees splayed.

“Marcus,” she murmured, pulse racing.

He gave her a wicked grin. “What goes around comes around.” Then he leaned down, lowered his head, and delivered a long, delicious lick to the heart of her arousal.

Moaning, Ami threw her head back and clutched the covers in fists as his mouth caressed her, rubbing, sucking, and nipping until she cried out, convulsing in climax.

Before she could catch her breath, Marcus flipped her over onto her stomach and knelt between her legs. His hands seized her hips, drew her up onto her knees. Then his cock was probing and plunging inside.

A low growl rumbled from him. “Ami … you feel so good.”

She would have told him the same if she had the breath to do so. But the pleasure was already building again, growing with every plunge and retreat, the friction driving her mad.

One of his hands trailed up her back, slid around and cupped her breast, squeezed.

Ami arched back against him.

“You like it?” he purred.

“Yes,” she panted.

“You want more?” His fingers teased her nipple.

“Yes,” she pleaded, then moaned when he withdrew.

Again his hands gripped her hips and turned her over onto her back. “I need to feel your arms around me,” he told her hoarsely.

And she needed to feel his weight, pressing down on her, surrounding her.

Marcus met Ami’s burning gaze as he propped himself on his hands and once more sank into her warmth. So tight.

“Closer,” she murmured, eyes glistening.

His own burned as he lowered himself until his chest brushed her breasts with every thrust. Until her arms could enfold him, her small hands holding him tight, then caressing a searing path down to grip his ass and urge him on.

He had come so close to losing her, had thought he had lost her. “Ami.”

She leaned up, pressed her lips to his.

Her legs, those long, luscious legs, wrapped around his hips.

He increased his tempo, moving faster and faster, angling his body to increase her pleasure and speed her toward another climax.

She fell back, breathing hard, emitting little moans of excitement.

Her muscles tensed. He heard the skip of her heart just before she screamed his name, her body pulsing as she came, clamping down around him and squeezing until he joined her with a shout.

Utter bliss.

Ami’s whole body tingled as Marcus sank down upon her. When he started to move away, she locked her arms around him and held him in place. “Not yet. Just a little longer.”

He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m too heavy for you.”

Rolling onto his side, he took her with him.

Ami draped a knee over his hip, wrapped an arm around his waist, and settled her face on the pillow, inches away from his.

His iridescent amber eyes held such love as they wandered over her features.

“You didn’t leave me,” she whispered, a tear spilling over her lashes.

Cupping her face, he brushed the moisture away with his thumb. “I’ll never leave you.”

Overwhelmed by the events of the past twenty-four hours, Ami buried her face in his chest and wept.

Chapter 15

Marcus stared up at the ceiling, toying with the silken strands of Ami’s hair. Darkness had fallen. They should both don their hunting gear and head out to find the damned vampire king and track down Richart, though Marcus had no idea where to begin doing the latter. Yet, they lingered in Ami’s rumpled, full-sized bed. Too small for Marcus’s height. His feet hung off the bottom, but he’d never felt more content.

Ami was curled up beside him, an arm and a leg draped across him. Her tears had long since dried. Tears that had made his chest ache. He never wanted her to need such catharsis again and intended to do his damnedest to see she wouldn’t.

It was odd. He had slept with many women during his long existence but, until now, had never wanted to linger afterward. That hollow sensation had always settled in as soon as the pleasure faded, driving him to leave as quickly as possible. But with Ami, it was different. She filled that hollow place within him and left him feeling as though he could spend the rest of his life like this, curled up in bed with her, talking quietly or just enjoying her presence.

“Where do you come from?” he asked.

Ami stirred against him beneath the sheets. “Your astronomers call my planet a jumble of numbers and letters, but—in our world, in our language—we call it Lasara.”

“So it isn’t in our solar system?”

“No. Our system is on the opposite side of what you call the Milky Way Galaxy.”

“So far,” he marveled.

She nodded.

“Are there others like you here on Earth?”

“No. I’m all alone.”

Marcus didn’t like the hint of melancholy that entered her voice and tightened his arms around her. “Not anymore.”

She hugged him back. “I wasn’t supposed to come here, you know. I defied our king to do so.”

“Your country is a monarchy?”

“Our planet is a monarchy, all people united and led by one ruler.” Tilting her chin up, she gave him a rueful smile. “My father, if you can believe it.”

Marcus stared at her. “Your father rules your entire planet?”

She grinned. “Yes. He’s very good, too, always placing the needs of the many above the needs of the few. There is no war or famine, very little crime.”

“It sounds like a Utopia.”

“It is.” Her smile faltered. “Or it was … until a new ally outside our system alliance betrayed us.”

“System alliance? Don’t tell me there’s more than one populated planet in your solar system.” Weren’t life-sustaining planets supposed to be extremely rare?

“There are three planets and four moons that support life in our solar system, thanks to our advanced methods of terraforming.”

“You can do that?”

She nodded. “We’ve been doing it for more than a millennium.”

“I can’t even fathom that.” Damn. Her people sounded very advanced, which he supposed they would have to be for her to survive traveling such a long distance.

“How long did it take you to get here?” he asked.

She pursed her lips. “About thirteen months by your standards.”

His mouth fell open. “That’s all?”

“Wormholes shortened the travel time significantly.”

“This seems so unreal. But not in a bad way,” he hastened to add when her brow furrowed. “Does your father know you’re here?”

“I don’t think so. One of my brothers would have come for me by now if they knew what had happened.”