Deathtrap (Crossbreed #3)(67)
A smile touched my lips. “Am I strange fruit?”
When his smoldering eyes latched onto mine, a sexual heat pooled low in my body. At first I thought the blood exchange was making me feel that way, or the fact that he was the man who’d rescued me from the fire. The worst part was that I couldn’t stop analyzing my feelings about him and what they meant, because I’d never felt such an unyielding attraction to anyone before.
“You’re strange indeed,” he murmured. “Did you come in here to hide away like a little mouse?”
I shrugged. “I like to be alone when I’m hurt.”
Christian abruptly leaned forward. “Let me see your hand.” He took my injured palm and turned it over, running his finger over the partially sealed wound. “You need to fix this. There are twenty-seven bones in the human hand, and I’ll wager the bullet shattered at least one.”
“I can’t keep drinking your blood,” I said, retracting my arm.
Christian gripped the edge of the tub and slowly put his knees down, forcing me to open my legs. “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing. You’re my partner. You came in here to hide like a wounded animal because that’s what you’re used to doing. You’re not alone, Raven. Together we’re stronger than any of them,” he said, nodding toward the door. “Don’t think I haven’t figured you out.”
I blinked in surprise. “What do you mean by that?”
He took a lock of my hair between his fingers and looked at it for a moment. “I know why you hate Vampires. Your Mage Creator was a cruel man. Most people despise their tormentor, but you hate your Vampire maker because he’s the one who abandoned you to evil. He was your hope—your salvation. You trusted him, and he betrayed you. The Mage side of you is the only part you understood—no matter how vile or terrible, it made sense. You never learned what it is to be a Vampire. It’s as simple as that.” Christian hovered as if he might lie on top of me. “I won’t abandon you. I won’t betray you.”
I trembled when he stretched out his neck before me, his artery pulsing with healing blood.
“Drink,” he whispered, his neck brushing against my lips. “Don’t fight it.”
Everything about his offering was so sensual that my fangs extended. I wanted to fight against my Vampire nature—against the very idea of consuming blood from another person—but I couldn’t. The scent of him, the feel of his warm neck, his willingness to give himself to me—it called to my Vampire heart, and I cradled his neck in my hands. My body hummed with desire, and I hadn’t even tasted him yet.
I wasn’t even sure I wanted to.
I pressed a kiss below his jaw—completely unnecessary when drawing a vein closer to the surface.
But I couldn’t help myself.
Christian wrapped one arm around me, holding me close as my lips locked over his neck. I felt the low rumble deep in his throat when my fangs barely touched his skin. As I began to suck on his neck, renegade pleasure raced through me, and I pulled him even closer. My teeth hadn’t even broken the skin, and already this bathtub was getting much too small.
The moment my fangs pierced his flesh, Christian sat up with me in his arms so I was straddling him. Ancient blood filled my mouth—the lifeline of generations of Vampires who came before him, all woven together. My hips rocked against his, stroking against the granite-hard erection beneath his trousers. His arms were everywhere around me, but he was careful not to pull too tight, not to squeeze too hard and shatter my bones. There was nothing deadlier than being within a Vampire’s grip.
I finished swallowing a mouthful and licked the wound to seal it, but I couldn’t stop tasting him, kissing him, sucking on his skin.
Damn. Christian was everything my body craved, and I wanted him to kiss me back, to carry me to bed. He reached under my shirt and cupped my breast, his thumb circling the rounded tip of my hardened nipple beneath my bra.
I moaned, pressing my body into his touch. My lips dragged their way up his scruffy jaw, across his cheek, and down to his mouth. Just before our lips met, he turned his head away.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in confusion.
“We’re not supposed to feel this way,” he said on a jagged breath. “Don’t get your heart attached to me, Precious. I’m not a thing to love.”
“Who said anything about love?”
He sharpened his gaze at me. “You’re not the type to have casual sex.”
“How do you know what type I am?”
He stroked my stomach as he withdrew his hand from beneath my shirt, causing me to shiver. “Because I know. You’re hungry for a man’s touch, and I just happen to be within proximity.”
I jerked my neck back. “You make it sound like I’m desperate.”
He grinned as if proud of pushing my buttons. “Who’s grinding who?”
I rocked my hips, his erection stroking me between the legs. Christian moaned as if he were in pain, his eyes hooding. “I can’t stroke what isn’t there, and it seems like you feel a whole lot more for me than you’re admitting to.” I sighed and got out of the tub, putting distance between us. “Let’s see what’s going on downstairs.”
He glared up at me with a look of reservation and doubt. “You’re not mad?”