It occurred to her that, for the first time in her life, she was glad she wasn’t Jane’s size. No way could a human built like the waif beneath her handle a man like Drake Halston, with his dark passion and aggressive touch.
Just thinking about how thoroughly he’d fuck her was enough to keep her juices flowing—and no one was even touching her at the moment!
Drake seemed to contemplate her plea and Jane said, “He knows he’ll hurt you and that makes him hesitant. It’s not that he doesn’t want you,” she was quick to add. “But there’s no getting around the pain you’ll feel at first.”
“Because I’m a virgin.”
“And he’s well-endowed,” Jane said with admiration in her voice.
Shana swallowed down the moan that bubbled up in her throat. She was in for one hell of a ride, she was sure of it. And she might have balked at the notion before they’d traveled so far down this erotic path. But now… Oh, no. She had no intention of backing down.
Her gaze still locked with Drake’s, she boldly said, “I’m not afraid. And I understand about the pain. It won’t last long and you’re technically not the one inflicting it. It’s human nature…a part of my body. Inescapable. So, please. Don’t say no.”
“I couldn’t say no,” he told her, something dark and slightly tormented swirling in his near-black irises. “Not after I’ve tasted you.” His jaw tightened again, as though the thought of tasting her pussy made him wild with passion. His fists even balled at his sides.
“Then do it,” she begged again. “Please. I can’t wait any longer. I want you. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
He moved away from her and her heart sank. But then he yanked open the drawer on the end table, flipped the lid on a small wooden box and extracted a condom. Relief washed over her, as well as that amazing flash of exhilaration she’d felt earlier.
“I’m on the pill,” she felt compelled to tell him. “Wishful thinking, I guess.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. A half smile of relief, she assumed.
“He’s mostly been with me,” Jane said. “We don’t contract diseases, so he can’t give you anything, and you’re a virgin… But we’ve never discerned whether a vampire can get a human pregnant.”
“Were you anticipating making love to a human?” she asked him as her gaze dropped to the foil wrapper in his hand. After all, if he and Jane couldn’t give each other a sexually transmitted disease and he couldn’t get her pregnant, why on earth would they bother with condoms?
He said, “As a matter of fact, I was doing a little wishful thinking myself. The supply is new.”
Her eyes lifted to his face and he stared intently at her, his scorching-hot gaze telling her everything she wanted to know. He’d been hoping to make love to her. Long before he’d even met her.
The realization knocked the wind from her chest. Her mouth gaped and her inner walls clenched, as though in anticipation of feeling him inside her.
Jane whispered, “You’re the fantasy he can’t let go of. He’s wanted you since the first time he saw your photo online. The image has haunted him all this time and he’s been tormented with the fear he could never have you.”
“Is that true?” she asked Drake.
He nodded, still looking a bit tortured. As if he’d agonized endlessly over his desire for her.
“But what about Jane?” Her attention shifted to the other woman as she posed the question.
Jane was the one to answer, with a smile. “It’s not like that between us. We have more than just a professional relationship, true. But it runs no deeper than mutual respect and adoration. We’re friends, Shana. That’s all.” Her fingertip brushed over Shana’s cheekbone. “Friends with benefits…until tonight. After this…”
A hint of sadness crept into her pale-green eyes, prompting Shana to say, “You’ll miss him.”
“Just the fact that I can occasionally relieve some sexual tension with him. We don’t associate with other vampires and I don’t trust myself with a human lover. But the way Drake feels about you… Well, once he makes love to you, he won’t want me again, nor will he let me lay a finger on you ever again.”
The territorial nature of that sentiment made Shana’s heart soar and her nipples tingle. She glanced back at Drake.
Again, she asked, “True?”
“I don’t intend to share you again. So be sure you know what you want.”
His voice was tight, almost ominous. But it wasn’t dark with a warning that she might be getting herself into something she couldn’t handle. Rather, it was tinged with a deep-seated need that matched her own. He was telling her he wanted her for keeps. And he was giving her the opportunity to decide whether or not she felt the same way.
Without a second thought, she said, “You won’t need the condom.”
Drake dropped it back in the box and shut the drawer.