“Oh Charlie,” I whimper, rolling my face in the covers, biting at the luxurious fabric. “Charlie, please let me come. Please, please, please.”
“You’re so adorable when you beg.” His fingers tighten on my hips, and he slams in hard. Over and over, he thrusts, pounding my inner wall as his balls slap my clit, and the plug fucks my ass.
“Charlie?” I swear I won’t last one more second.
“Now, Aurelia,” he growls.
My orgasm explodes the moment he gives me permission. Stars splinter before my blackened vision. Wave after wave of ecstasy rolled through me, contracting my core, sending corresponding tremors down my inner thighs to the soles of my feet.
I hold my breath, nearly passing out from the tsunami of pleasure.
When I fall from its jaws, I pant, collapsing over his bed. I blink to regain my vision and bearings.
Charlie eases the plug from my ass and lifts me into the air, placing me gently on my back. As reality returns, I see the cords stand out in his neck, the pain in his face as he crawls over me. Guilt pricks me. I enjoyed my release so thoroughly while he never can.
I stroke the side of his face, but he jerks away, impatient with my pity. He pushes his hard length between my legs, and I open for him, despite the soreness holding me. He moves inside me, neither rough nor gentle, but with a grim determination, as if he would fuck me all night just in case the curse might dissolve.
I bring my focus to it, imagine drawing the blockage out.
Charlie rests on his forearms, his head hanging over my shoulder, his breath labored in my ear. He starts to groan as if in pain, and the muscles of his low belly jerk.
Without warning, his fangs strike my neck. I scream in surprise, shoving him away and convulsing beneath him. He strokes my cheek with his thumb as if to calm me, as he continues to pump his cock inside me and suckle.
“No,” I sob. “Get off me. Stop it!”
He sucks for a few more seconds then licks my wound closed with long slow laps as if I wasn’t struggling beneath him.
The moment he releases me, I scramble to my feet, anger burning hot. “What the fuck was that?” I demand.
Charlie climbs off the bed as well, looking tired, his cock still waving horizontally with unspent passion. “I didn’t mean to do that.” He sounds defeated. “Is it really that big a deal?”
“Yes, it’s a big deal! I need my blood. I didn’t want it sucked. You knew that, and you did it anyway.”
He stabs his fingers through his hair. “Did it hurt? Are you light-headed?”
“No, but you had no right. I didn’t want to be bit!”
He blew out his breath, his face turning stony. He pulls on his clothes.
“Where are you going?” I demand, panic surging. Fork. He’s about to pull his disappearing act. My stomach tightens. “Don’t you dare leave me here—”
He’s gone.
“Dammit!” I scream.
And then he reappears, as if he heard me screaming at him. He strides purposefully toward me. My heart thunders.
What would he do?
He wraps an arm around my waist, and for one glorious moment, I believe everything will be all right, but then my body yanks back, cells splitting and reforming. A second later, we’re standing in my living room.
And Charlie vanishes once more.
Damn it all. He only came back to deposit me in my house. I guess I should be grateful he was that thoughtful. He could have left me to find my way back in the dark with no clothing but the corset and stockings.
But no. Fuck. This. I stomp to my bedroom and pull on a pair of jeans and t-shirt. He doesn’t get to run out on me every time things get difficult. He brought me to his inner sanctum, and it meant something. But the moment he shows weakness, he abandons me.
If he’s mad, he needs to stay and tell me. I can’t take the leaving.
I can’t.
I put on my sneakers and grab my keys, marching out the door. He said he liked to go downtown—I’ll find him there.
The idea that he might be angry with me gnaws at me. Something tickling the back of my mind surfaces: the color in his face looked different after he bit me. He was so pale when I tried to wake him and...hadn’t he said he was hungry?
My belly twists into a knot of guilt. Why did I freak out on him, anyway? He was right, it didn’t hurt, and I experienced no after-effects, so he hadn’t taken too much. Maybe he really needed to feed. Or maybe it was his substitute for orgasm, and when I denied him that, it was like adding insult to injury.
Proud vampire.
I walk briskly downtown, looking for any sign of him. When I see none, I head to Eclipse.