Captivated (Deep in Your Veins 6)

I’d heard many times that there was something seriously erotic about having a vampire feed from you, but I truly hadn’t expected to like it much. It had actually been a lot hotter than I’d anticipated.

I’d thought it would hurt more than it had. But there’d only been a brief slash of pain, and then nothing but pure bliss—a bliss so intensely euphoric that it sent my orgasm forcefully barrelling toward me each time. I could see why some might get addicted to that high.

“Are you working tonight?” he asked once I was fully dressed.

I didn’t mistake the question for him wondering if I was free this evening. I could sense it was an idle enquiry. Knew he was making small talk and ensuring things were good between us before he headed home.

“No,” I replied. “It’s my night off. I wanted to go to the beach, but Maisy hounded me until I agreed to go see a movie with her instead.” I started dragging a brush through my hair. “What are you doing with your evening?”

“I have poker night with the guys.”

“Really? I had no idea you were all into strip poker.”

His brow furrowed. “I never said strip poker.”

“You did in my head. And the images I’m now seeing are blowing my mind. Do you touch each other too? Please say yes.”

A rumbly laugh bubbled out of him and, predictably, here came the goosebumps.

Smiling, he rose from the bed and crossed to me. “I like you, Lexi Solomon.”

My chest did not just go all warm. “I like you, Damien Addams.” I placed my brush on the dresser. “And now I have to eat. You hungry?”

“Not really. I’m sort of tanked up on your blood right now.” His pupils dilated. “You taste like heaven, you know.”

“I didn’t know. Thanks for telling me.”

His brow pinched. “You don’t feel weak or anything, do you? I was careful not to take too much blood, but …”

“I’m fine. Honestly.” But we truly needed to stop talking about him feeding from me, because the memories were making my body tingle in all kinds of wonderful places. “Right. Breakfast.”

I walked out of my room, down the small hallway, and into my kitchen. I thought Damien would make his excuses to leave, but he trailed after me, his mouth twisted. And I sensed … “You want to ask me something.”

He blinked. “I do, yeah. Do you mind me asking how you came to be at The Hollow? Sam made a vague reference to it last night but didn’t expand. And, well, I’m nosy.”

I shrugged. “It’s not an interesting story, but I’ll tell you if you want to know.” Although I was genuinely surprised he’d care to ask.

He slid onto one of the breakfast stools. “I do.”

“Okay.” I popped two slices of bread into the toaster. “Basically, I saw something I shouldn’t have seen. I stumbled upon Hoyt battling with a vampire he’d tracked,” I said, referring to one of Sam and Jared’s trackers. “I saw enough to know they weren’t human. I know I should have run or screamed or something, but I just froze. It wasn’t out of fear, I didn’t really feel anything other than … I don’t know, it was like I was caught up in a dream or something.”

Pausing, I grabbed the carton of orange juice from the fridge and then a glass from the cupboard. “Hoyt subdued the vamp, knocked him out, and then came over to me. He moved slowly, carefully, trying not to scare me I guess. But I’d known he could pounce on me in a second—I’d seen how fast he moved—so I wasn’t reassured. Still, I didn’t run. Felt rooted to the spot. He tried to erase my memories but couldn’t.”

Damien’s brows flew up. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I poured juice into my glass and took a sip. “Apparently that happens sometimes with humans, though no one’s quite sure why.” Hearing my toast pop up, I put the two slices on a plate and began to butter them. “Hoyt said I had two choices—I could die, or I could go with him.”

“And you agreed to come here.”

“Nope. I chose ‘death.’”

“Death?” echoed Damien, his mouth kicking up.

“Oh yeah.” I returned the juice carton to the fridge. “I had no wish to go anywhere with goddamn vampires. But Hoyt wasn’t down with that. He tried to explain that the place where he’d take me was beautiful. That I’d be safe there, safer than I’d ever been before. But, yeah, I was like ‘dude, just kill me.’”

“I guess I can understand why you’d be sceptical.”

Setting my plate and glass on the small island, I sat on the stool opposite Damien. “Hoyt rolled his eyes and declared I was going with him, and that he could just as easily kill me at The Hollow if I genuinely didn’t want to be there. I was shocked when I first arrived. I never expected to learn that vampires lived in the damn Caribbean.”