Single White Vampire (Argeneau #3)(43)

He bared them. They looked perfectly normal to her. His canines were a little pointy but not overly long, and she muttered, "No sharp, pointy, canine teeth...."

"Oh, those teeth." Lucern opened his mouth again. To her horror, the canines extended out of his gums like a cat's claws.

"Oh, God," Kate whimpered.

He retracted the teeth at once. "It's okay, Kate. I would never hurt you."

"You bit me!" she cried. Which was followed by another chorus of "Oh God, oh God, oh God." She couldn't seem to stop saying that.

"But it didn't hurt," he argued. "Did it?"

"Oh God! Get off me, get off me, get off me!" She began to struggle beneath him, but it was a useless attempt. He was much bigger than her. And stronger. She stopped struggling, tried to calm herself, then said, "Please."

Lucern peered at her for a moment, suspicious, then shook his head. "I can't. Not until you promise that you won't tell anyone about this."

She opened her mouth, but he forestalled her by adding, "It's for your own good, Kate. People would just think you are nuts."

He was probably right about that, she realized. They would all think she'd been working too hard and gone off her rocker. A shifting from below drew her attention to the fact that something was moving down there, and it wasn't Lucern. At least not most of him. Dear God, he was getting aroused. She could feel him growing and pressing against her. Kate cleared her throat. "Umm, Lucern?"

"Call me Luc," he suggested. He gave a wicked grin. "Lucern sounds so formal, and we're a bit beyond that."

Kate didn't smile. She cleared her throat again. "Luc. If you're dead, how can you get…" She shifted her eyes downward. He got the drift without her having to explain further, thank goodness, and he shifted away so he wasn't pressed quite so intimately against her.

"I apologize, but I fear I find you quite attractive," he said with great dignity.

"You do?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Oh." She wasn't sure whether she should be happy about that or not, so she returned to her question. "But, if you're dead—"

"I am not dead," Lucern informed her, rolling his eyes.

"You aren't?" she asked. He shook his head solemnly, so she continued, "Then, you aren't soulless?"

"No." A smile quirked his lips.

"And the rest of your family…?"

He shook his head solemnly.

Kate digested this news, her mind processing that he had written factual history books before his vampire romances. She processed that the first vampire romance had characters named after his parents, the second was about Lissianna and Gregory—a social worker and therapist, just like the real Lissianna and Gregory—and the third was about Rachel and Etienne, a coroner and a game designer. It seemed pretty obvious that he was still writing historical fact. "How old are you?"

"Six hundred and twelve," he answered calmly. As if it were a normal enough age. Dear Lord, Kate realized with dismay. She had lost her mind. She whimpered again.

"It's okay, Kate." Luc brushed the hair back from her face. "I know this is a lot to accept, but it's okay."

"How can it be okay? You're a vampire. And you bit me." She still couldn't believe he'd done that. And why had it felt so good?

"It was just a little nibble," he said. When she glared at him, he tried again. "I'm sorry I bit you, but I was hungry… and you smell so delicious." His eyes dropped to her neck as he spoke, and longing crossed his face. Alarm coursed through her, and Kate covered her neck with both hands.

Much to her irritation, he began to chuckle. His chest shook against hers.

"This isn't funny," she snapped. "How would you like to feel like a slab of veal?"

"My dear Kate. You are hardly a slab of veal," he said. Forcing a solemn expression, he added, "You're at least a steak."

Her mouth dropped open in horror. Lucern took advantage of the moment and closed his mouth over hers. Much to Kate's chagrin, the passion he had ignited in her the night before immediately flamed to life again. Apparently, her body didn't care that he was a bloodsucking demon. It liked him just fine. More than fine. And now Kate was having to fight both him and herself. It was a losing battle. A bare moment passed before she gave in with a wrenching moan and slid her arms around his neck.

It was all Lucern was waiting for, apparently, for a heartbeat later she found the sheet that had been caught between them gone and her robe wide open. Which not only left her naked beneath him, but alerted her to the fact that Lucern Argeneau slept in the nude.

Her eyes widened. He slept in the nude and in a bed. When he broke their kiss to nibble at her ear, Kate gasped, "What about your coffin?"

"I left it at home." His voice was a velvet growl laced with laughter.

Kate wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but she stopped worrying about it when his hand closed gently around one breast and squeezed. Moaning, she arched into the hot caress; then her eyes popped open. "Why aren't you cold? I thought vampires were cold."

"I told you, I'm not dead," Lucern reminded her.

"Oh, yeah," Kate muttered. Then Luc claimed her lips again. Shifting down her body, he enclosed one breast in his warm, wet mouth. He suckled on it like a hungry baby, his tongue flicking her nipple as he did. Kate suddenly didn't mind being dinner. Which made her think. "What about garlic?"