Blood Match (Blood Type 2)
“Becks?”
He kissed the top of her head in response.
“I want to know all there is to know about you.” Snow kissed her eyelids as she faced him again. He didn’t say anything and she could see that his eyes went distant. “You don’t have to tell me now. But one day, will you tell me your story?”
“It’s not a pleasant tale.”
“Please?”
He faced the skyline again with a sigh. She could tell that he didn’t want to give in to her. That he didn’t want to have to tell her about his gruesome past. But she wanted to know all of him. Everything there was to know.
“You do not want to know what I once was…what I am still on the inside.”
“I do,” she insisted.
He whirled around, his fangs visible. “I am not the hero you have constructed in your story, Little One. I am the villain.”
Reyna reached up and gently ran her thumb across the fangs. Not hard enough to break the skin, but enough to feel the sharp point. “Someone made you this way.”
He took her wrist in his hands, removing her fingers from his fangs. Removing the temptation. “And would you believe me if I said I chose this?”
Reyna froze. “Did you?”
“Yes.”
“And would you choose it again?” she whispered.
“That hardly matters.”
Reyna assessed him. “It makes all the difference in the world.”
“That is where you are wrong. We can’t change the past. It’s futile even considering it. I am a vampire. I am a murderer. My backstory will not change your mind except to poison you against me.”
“Why don’t you let me make up my mind about that?”
“When I tell you, it will be a mercy.”
“Mercy?” she whispered.
“Then you will not need another reason to leave me.”
Chapter 21
It was pointless arguing with Beckham about it.
He would never see her point about his past and she would never see his. She would wait for him to tell her. She doubted she could coax it out of him sooner than that anyway. She wished he could realize that she accepted him for exactly who he was. She was already aware that he done some crazy stuff before joining the rebellion. It couldn’t be that bad. She hoped.
They stayed at the rooftop garden until Reyna could no longer feel her fingers or toes. Then Beckham insisted he return her to her room.
“So,” she said, when they finally got back, “do you have the rest of the night off?”
“A gentleman simply kisses his date good-night on the first date.”
“It’s probably a good thing that you are not a gentleman, then, isn’t it?” she teased, drawing him away from the doorway.
“It seems to be your favorite quality about me.”
“Oh no, I like the brooding, silent, self-loathing the best.”
“Perfect match for your never-ending speeches and vibrant optimism.”
“I’d say that I’m leaning more toward realism lately.”
She stripped out of the heavy jacket, gloves, scarf, hat, and thick socks, tossing them all haphazardly around her room. She was halfway pulling the giant sweater over her head when she felt Beckham’s hands on her waist. They slipped under the material of her black T-shirt and caressed her stomach. She dropped the sweater to the ground, forgotten.
“Fuck,” he growled low.
“I missed you.”
“Every day that you were gone, I was out of my mind.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
“I would have burned the city down to get to you.”
“I worried you wouldn’t.”
“It killed me not to be here when you got back. To not be here doing this.” He dropped his mouth onto hers and the kiss seared through her. “Cover be damned. Visage be damned. I wanted you and then when I finally had you, I fucked it up again.”
“Shhh,” she said, pressing a finger to his lips. “It doesn’t matter. You have me now.”
And he relented, placing a kiss on her finger. Then latching a hand around her wrist, he directed the pad of her finger into his mouth. His tongue caressed her and then gently nipped at her. He repeated this on each finger before turning her palm up and pressing a kiss into her wrist.
“Your heart rate has elevated, Little One.”
“Uh-huh,” she said desperately.
His nose connected with her wrist and he dragged it up the length of her arm. Her entire body tingled at each touch. When he reached her shoulder, he ripped the material aside and his lips touched her skin, kissing across her collarbone and up to her neck. She tilted her head for better access and felt as if she were about to float away.
The last time they had been in this position he had bitten her. And now her body was primed and waiting for that moment once again. The kisses weren’t enough. She could feel the sharp edges of his fangs and tensed as if to prepare herself. Her body thrummed in response. Not just her heart rate ratcheted up but her breathing was ragged and she shivered in his embrace.