Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(86)

“You couldn’t do anything to me that I don’t want.” She winked at him and loved his grin. “That is fine, but I will have to leave before sunrise. Not that I’ll burst into a puff of dust, but sunburns f*cking hurt.”

He laughed, and she ran her tongue over her teeth. The flash of his white smile against his tanned face made her heart beat faster, and she wondered at her unusually strong reaction to this man. Something about him was familiar, but she didn’t think she’d ever met him before. This feeling of knowing someone even when they’d never met wasn’t that unusual—in over six hundred years she’d encountered lots of people—but this odd feeling that she could trust him was.

Tyler ran his fingertips over her cheek, stroking the sensitive point on her neck that always made her purr. “The thought of anything happening to an inch of that perfect body is unacceptable. I’ll take care of you, I promise.” They stood, and he shook his head, looking down at her. “You still look like f*cking jailbait though.”

“Want to card me?” she asked with a laugh and naturally wound her fingers around his as they held hands and walked through the club, neither of them wanting to stop touching.

“There are so many things I want to do with you, but tonight is lady’s choice. I’m yours, darlin’.”

“What?” He tugged at her hand to keep her walking to the exit.

“Tonight is about you. I want to make you happy, give you everything you ever wanted in one night.”

“Why would you do that?”

“So you’d see me again.”

“But…I’d have to glamour you again.”

“That’s fine.”

She followed him out to where his limo waited for them, her frown disappearing at the sight of their transportation. “A limo? Ooh la la. Doing well for yourself, Tyler?”

“Not to brag, but yes.” He cocked his head as they both took a seat inside his limo. “Do you recognize me?”

“Ummmm, no, sorry. Haven’t been keeping up on humans lately.”

He laughed softly, and she loved how damn sexy that sound was. “I love how honest you are. Haven’t been with a woman like you in far too long.”

Not liking the idea of any other woman being around him, she gave Tyler an arch look even as she battled with her own unnaturally possessive feelings. If she was anyone but herself, she’d be worried that she was bonding with this human, but that was impossible. It took either prolonged contact with a human or regular small amounts of blood drinking that would bind them together on a chemical level. One of the results on the vampire’s side was the need to be around that human. Right now she felt like she would tear apart anyone or anything that got between her and the big man who was watching her with a look she couldn’t understand. It was…frustrated yet tender, angry yet adoring. Like he was waiting for her to do or say something and so far she’d disappointed him.

In a way Tyler’s expressions reminded her of how Sargon looked at her, and she shivered at the thought of the two men meeting. If she wasn’t feeling so greedy for Tyler, she’d be tempted to take him to Sargon’s compound and spend the night f*cking Tyler’s brains out. Unfortunately she’d never see him again after that, and she knew Sargon would want a second taste. Hell, she already mourned the thought of taking Tyler’s memories from him, and that was a bad sign. Feeling the situation rapidly slipping out of control, she plowed ahead with little thought to anything but soothing the ache inside her body and soul with this man.

Struggling to regain the upper hand, she failed miserably when she blurted out, “I will warn you that I am very jealous. Do not mention other women around me. I can get very…territorial of you. And dominant. As Alpha male as you are I’m not sure if you can submit to me and find pleasure in it.”

“Sweetheart, I’ll take you any way I can get you. If you need to be in control, then I want to give you what you need.”

His words stroked her soul like a soft kiss, and she drew in a deep lungful of his scent and lost herself in the siren’s call of his pheromones. He smelled delicious; he smelled like hers. “What are you doing to me?”

He bit his lower lip, and she had to grit her teeth in an effort to keep from lunging on him. “Baby, I’m going to love you so much I’ll be the last man you ever want to be with. I’m gonna melt that thick ice around your heart, one layer at a time. Before you protest you need to know that I know what I want, and I always get what I want. Always. May take me awhile, but at the end of all this bullshit, I will own a piece of your heart.”

She wanted to laugh him off, to draw the mantle of her authority around herself, but he seemed to know exactly what to say to her to rip apart her shields like they were paper. The car sped through the night, and she sat on the plush black leather seat, staring at the man who made her soul bleed. No, she couldn’t feel this way. Never again. Falling in love was a myth, a fairytale that was exploited to get women to give up their bodies and souls. Men wanted her for only one thing—sex—and that was okay because that’s all she ever allowed. The only man she allowed to even sleep in her bed was Sargon. Her heart was barren, yet with Tyler, she felt disturbing things inside of her, warmth where there had been only emptiness, a sense of no longer being alone that was so exquisite it scared her.