Page 16

Falling for a vampire.

“What if I say no?”

His jaw locked tightly and his eyes blazed like flames.

“Then I walk away.” He smiled arrogantly, exposing the lie.

“And you’ll find someone else?” I asked, unable to stop my foolish ass thoughts from surfacing.

He remained silent, brushing his fingers over my pulse, providing my answer.

There. Is. No. One. Else.

“I meant what I said. You have to want it as much as I do. I don’t take.” He let go of the shelf and moved back, giving me space. I almost objected, missing the intensity and comfort of his presence so close to me. His expression was hard but also desperate. “You don’t owe me anything. If you want me to leave, I’ll leave.”

“This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever done,” I muttered, making him smirk.

“I disagree.”

Exhaling slowly, I lifted my wrist into view. His eyes narrowed and I explained. “Not my neck. This or nothing.”

His gaze flitted to my throat but he accepted what I was offering, although he wasn’t happy about it. Regardless of the irritation from not having access to my neck, he lowered his head. “You sure?”

“Fuck no.” His brow lifted slowly and I huffed. “Go ahead before I change my mind.”

The warmth of his lips ghosted over the inside of my wrist, depositing a soft kiss. Several more followed and my fingers circled into my palm right before I felt his teeth pierce my skin. Heat flooded through me, a million times faster than it had that night. He had been holding back, but now he wasn’t. His eyes lifted, watching me as he drank like a man starved and I swore I could feel the tension leaving his body as he fed from me.

A low throaty growl vibrated against my skin that sent another round of heat through me. My nipples were so damn tight they hurt and my pussy was leaking.

What the hell?

Time moved slowly, or shit maybe it didn’t, I couldn’t tell. But when he finally pulled away, the moment was slow and hesitant. His mouth lingered on my wrist for a few seconds longer before he extended to his full height, eyes never leaving mine.

He stepped toward me and pressed a kiss to my temple when I heard the low rasp of his voice. “Thank you.”

“We’re not doing this again.” I snatched my arm back, realizing his fingers were still possessively wrapped around my wrist

A sexy smile eased onto his face.

“Release the boundary spell.”

My brows pinched. “No.”

“See you soon, danger.”

I frowned as he chuckled and walked away, leaving my mind spiraling and my body reeling. And I knew that was exactly the intent.

Leaving me wanting more, because I did…

My entire day was turned upside down but I managed to pull things together enough to salvage the morning. I opened the shop and was grateful today was slow. A handful of students from HGU came by to purchase elixirs, which were a big seller because some were fused with purposeful intent and a little bit of magic. I couldn’t keep the concentration and energy ones stocked and I was making batches of the relax and chill blend multiple times a day.

What college student didn’t want a high that left no traces of drugs in their systems. The drinks were safe but served their intended purpose. The flow of customers was slow enough for me to survey the damage from the fire, assessing what needed to be fixed and replaced.

Luckily for me the damage was contained to one small corner of the stock room, and from what I could tell, had started from a surge with one of the outlets. The damn thing was burned to hell thanks to the paper shredder plugged into it. The shredder had been destroyed.

I would survive, no real loss on my part. Just a few candles and boxes of papers that I thankfully had just recently scanned and uploaded to a server. I was trying to upgrade my record keeping and did so at the right time. The majority of my morning was spent dragging what was burned from the storeroom to the dumpsters out back, taking inventory and trying to salvage what I could. Being busy meant I didn’t have to think about the lingering feelings that refused to pass about the reason my entire store didn’t go up in flames.

Which I supposed was a half-truth. I could have easily contained the fire and had been in the process of doing so before he showed up and scared the shit out of me, causing me to do more damage.