“That is not going to happen.” He shook his head, and his hold on me tightened. His hard length pressed against my belly, sending a tingle straight to my core. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to head downstairs and act as if you’re not in our home.”
“But I wouldn’t be in your house,” I argued, pointing my thumb over my shoulder and ignoring him when he muttered something about it being our house. “I’d be outside, which is totally different.”
He cupped my face with his palms. “As much as I want to give you anything you ask of me, I simply cannot agree to this. Not only do I want you by my side but my mother would never forgive me for treating my fated consort as though she isn’t the most important person in my life. Especially so soon after I’ve found you, when you haven’t had time to come to understand what you mean to me yet. Our world is too new to you, but I need you to trust me on this. Please come downstairs with me, Bronwyn.”
“When you put it like that…” I grumbled as butterflies took flight in my belly. It was nearly impossible to decline a request when it was worded so prettily, and I found myself surrendering to the urge to give Stephan what he wanted. “I guess if you have a shirt I could wear that won’t look too horrible with the skirt, then I can go down and meet your parents.”
“Thank you, angel.” He brushed a kiss against my forehead before grabbing my skirt and bra off the floor and tugging me toward a huge walk-in closet that was bigger than the room I was renting. The perfectly ordered rows of clothing—with lots of custom-tailored suits—was another stark reminder of the differences between Stephan and me.
I zipped it up and settled the black material over my legs. Then I thought about the torn scrap of satin on his bedroom floor and sighed, “It’s a good thing this skirt is so long because my panties can never be worn again.”
“Sorry.” Stephan flashed me a sheepish grin, though it was clear he wasn’t really sorry. “I was in a rush to get to your sweet pussy and didn’t want to waste any time pulling them down your legs. I’m not sure if I want to buy you lots of pairs to do it over and over again”—he stroked his hand over my butt and gave one cheek a little pat—“or insist that you go without wearing panties all the time, so I don’t have to wait to get a taste of my new favorite treat.”
My core fluttered at the reminder of how hard I’d come when he had his mouth on me, and I pushed him toward the section with button-down shirts. “Turning me on when your parents are waiting for us is not the way to get me to go downstairs with you.”
“Another reason to convince them all is well.” He pulled a white shirt from a hanger and handed it to me. “Then everyone will be on their way, and we can get back to what we were doing before they rudely interrupted us.”
As I put on my bra and slid my arms into his shirt, I blamed my sensual fog from earlier for not noticing an important missing step in this whole situation sooner. “Wait a second. How do you know it’s your parents and brothers down there? And why they’re here? You didn’t talk to anyone on your phone, and there are no security monitors up here for a doorbell camera or anything like that.”
He yanked some clothes off more hangers for himself before guiding me back into the bedroom and answering, “There are some natural gifts that come with being a vampire. One of them is the ability to speak telepathically with each other. It’s something you and I will be able to do as well once we’ve bonded fully.”
“Whoa.” My mind was reeling once again, and I must’ve been standing there trying to wrap my head around the idea of being able to use telepathy for a while because Stephan was fully dressed when he started to help me button up the shirt. My smaller frame was dwarfed by the oversized material, and I heaved a deep sigh before undoing the bottom three buttons to tie the material at my waist. After running my fingers through my tangled hair, I set my hand in the crook of Stephan’s elbow. “I guess I’m as ready as I can be.”
His eyes were filled with masculine approval as his gaze swept down the length of my body and back up again. “You’re utterly gorgeous; that’s what you are.”
His compliment gave me a confidence boost, but it was short-lived. As we neared his family—who had let themselves inside and were waiting in the same room where Stephan had torn my shirt, and my buttons were still scattered across the floor—I desperately wanted to turn around and run back upstairs. Not only was it obvious what we’d been doing before they arrived, but they were all dressed impeccably while I was wearing a men’s button-down shirt that was way too big for me and a black skirt that Stephan’s sister-in-law had loaned me. I knew I shouldn’t have let him talk me into coming down here when I looked like a little girl playing dress-up and failing miserably.