Tempted (House of Night #6)(56)

He put his finger under my chin and made me meet his gaze. I promise that this won't be about sex because you and me, what we have, means more than sex. Let me do this for you, Zoey. My mouth opened and before I could stop it I heard myself whisper, Okay. His smile was like he'd just won the Super Bowl. Excellent! But no sex, I said. Absolutely none at all. Just call me Heath No Sex. Hell, my middle name is No Sex. Heath. I put a finger on his lips to shut him up. You're dorking this up. Oh, yeah. Okay, he mumbled around my finger. Then he let loose my hand and reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulling out a small pocketknife.

He slid off his coat and opened the knife. The blade looked weirdly like a kid's toy in the dark cafeteria. Hang on! I kinda shrieked when he started to lift the knife to the side of his neck. What? Um. Right here? We're doing this right here? He raised his brows at me. Why not? We're not having sex, remember? Of course I remember, I said. It's just, well, someone might come in. Stark's guarding the door. No one will get past him. That shocked me into silence. I mean, obviously this had been Stark's idea, but guarding the door to make sure Heath and I had private time? That was just-- The scent of Heath's blood hit me and all thoughts of Stark flew from my mind. My eyes found the small ribbon of red that lay along the soft spot where his neck met his shoulder. He shifted, putting the knife on the table and holding his arms open to me.

Come here, Zo. It's just you and me right now. No one else for you to think about. No one else for you to worry about. Come here, he repeated. I went into his arms inhaling his scent: Heath, blood, desire, home, and my past all wrapped up together in a strong, familiar embrace. When my tongue touched the line of scarlet I felt him shiver and knew he was suppressing a moan of pure desire. I hesitated, but it was too late. His blood exploded in my mouth. Unable to stop myself, I pressed my lips against his skin and drank. At that moment I didn't care that I wasn't ready for sex, or that the world around me was one big ball of chaos, or even that we were in the middle of the cafeteria while Stark guarded the door (and probably was experiencing everything I was feeling). At that moment all I cared about was Heath and his blood and his body and his touch.

Sssh. Heath's voice had gone all deep and kinda raspy, but it was weirdly soothing. It's okay, Zo. It can just feel good and that's it. Think about how strong it makes you. You need to be strong, remember? You have, like, a zillion people counting on you. I'm counting on you; Stevie Rae is counting on you; Aphrodite is counting on you, even though I kinda think she's a bitch. Erik's even counting on you--not that anyone cares about him . . . Heath's words went on and on. And as he spoke a weird thing happened. His voice stopped being all deep and raspy. He started sounding just like Heath--like he and I were sitting here talking about normal stuff and I wasn't sucking blood from his neck. Then, without me hardly knowing it, the surge of feeling that filled me as I drank from him changed from raw sex to something else. Something I could think through.

Something I could handle. Don't get me wrong, it still felt good. Really, really, seriously good. But good was tempered with what I can only describe as normal, and normal made it manageable. So when I felt strong and rejuvenated I was actually able to pull back. Close now, I thought, and licked the bleeding line on Heath's neck, automatically changing the endorphins in my saliva from coagulants to anticoagulants. I watched the bleeding stop and the small wound begin to knit together, leaving only a slim, pink line to betray to the world what had happened between us. My eyes lifted to meet Heath's gaze. Thank you, I said. Anytime, he said. I'll always be here for you, Zo. Good, because I'll always need you to remind me of who I really am. Heath kissed me. It was a gentle kiss, but it was deep and intimate and filled with a desire I knew he was holding back, waiting for me to be ready to finally say yes to him. Instead, I broke the kiss and snuggled into his arms. I felt him sigh, but his embrace didn't falter and he held me tightly. The sound of the door to the cafeteria swinging open made us both jump. Zoey, you really should get to the dorm. They're waiting for you, Stark said. Okay, yeah, I'm coming, I said, pulling out of Heath's arms and helping him put on his coat. I'd better find Darius and those guys and give them some awesome human help with stuff, Heath said. Like guilty kids, we walked together over to where Stark stood, expressionlessly holding the door open.

Stark. Heath nodded at him. Thanks for getting me to her. It's part of my job, Stark said sharply. Well, I think you deserve a raise, Heath told him with a grin, then he bent and gave me a quick kiss before telling me bye and hurrying toward the door that led to the central school grounds. It's not a part of my job I like, I heard Stark mutter as both of us watched Heath disappear outside. Like you said, guess we better get to the dorms, I said, starting to walk briskly down the hall that led to the exit nearest the dorms. Stark followed me--along with a very uncomfortable silence. So, he finally said, his voice sounding strained. That sucked. I spoke before thinking, and the ridiculous words seemed to babble out of my mouth of their own accord. Yep. Yep it did. Literally. Then, unbelievably, I giggled. Okay, in my defense, I was feeling amazingly good.

Heath's blood had made me feel better than I had since Kalona burst through the ground and messed up my life. It's not funny, Stark said. Sorry. It was a bad pun, I said, giggled again, and then clamped my lips shut. I'm going to pretend really hard that you're not all giggly and I didn't just feel everything you felt in there, Stark said in a strained voice. Even through my blood rush I understood that it must have been really hard on Stark to experience the intense pleasure another guy had just brought me, and to realize how close Heath and I actually are. I slid my arm through Stark's. At first he was cold and stiff, and barely responded, like I was trying to hold on to a statue, but as we continued walking he thawed and I felt him relax.