Bound by Night(116)

Slowly, he eased himself out of her grip. The curiosity etched in her expression made him squirm. She was here because she loved him, but would she believe he loved her after he told her about the imprint? He hesitated, wanting to stretch this out, because it might just be the last intimate, happy moment they had.
“Well?” she prompted, and pressure built in his chest.
He cleared his throat, stalling for more time. Finally, when she started tapping her foot on the mattress, he asked, “You believe I fell for you before you turned, right?”
“I do.”
“You’re sure?”
She scooted back, eyeing him warily, and he hated that he’d done that to her. “What’s this about?”
Gripping the hem of his shirt, he peeled it off over his head. Her gaze immediately dropped to his chest, and he had to admit he enjoyed the way her eyes grew hungry. He tore open his fly and pushed one flap aside to reveal the new feather glyph pulsing on his skin.
Frowning, Nicole leaned forward, and then she straightened so fast she nearly fell off the bed. Might have if he hadn’t grabbed her.
“Oh, my God . . .” Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. “Is that . . . an imprint mark?”
“It was the night you got pregnant,” he said in a rush, stupidly, because when else would it have happened? They’d only had sex once since she’d turned into a vampire. Trying to sound a little less addled, he added, “I think it’s why you felt chest pain. Vampires can sense emotions in others through scent or physical manifestations, but they have to be in close proximity . . . unless the male is imprinted. It’s rare, but sometimes the female can actually feel the male’s strong emotions even when they’re miles apart.”
“So you’re saying I was feeling . . .”
“My pain,” he finished.
Her long sable lashes flew up as her eyes shot wide open. “Oh, my God. If I’d known earlier how much you were hurting, I’d have come sooner.”
He leaned over and kissed her, going again for the tried-and-true distract-and-evade strategy. “I guess we just have more time to make up, then.”
“I’m being manipulated, aren’t I?” she murmured against his lips.
Laughing, he eased them both back down on the mattress, eager to get her out of her clothes. She seemed on board with that plan, reaching for his fly.
But instead of going where he thought she was going, her fingers found the raised crimson lines that defined his imprint. An intense, almost orgasmic shock shot straight to his groin, and he hissed with pleasure. An impish smile twitched at the corner of her mouth.
“I do believe I could have fun with that,” she murmured.
He thought she could, too. “As often as you want.”
She nipped his bottom lip as she traced the glyph, each feather-light stroke of her finger making him breathe faster. Between his legs, his erection ached, wanting the same attention.
“I also believe,” she said, in a husky, intimate rasp, “that I’ll take the timing of your imprint and my pregnancy as a sign.”
“A good one?”
She slid her hand to his cock, and he groaned.
“What do you think?”
Think? That ability had just gone AWOL. Drawing
air into lungs so tight they felt like fists, he relieved her of her sweatshirt. She was gloriously braless, and he showered kisses on each breast before blazing a trail with his lips and tongue to her abdomen, where his child was growing.
“I’m so glad I found you,” he said against the soft expanse of skin between her hip bones. “I gave up on life when Terese died, but you gave it back to me. You also gave me a son, and now you’re going to give me another son or a daughter. I can’t thank you enough.”
“This again?” she teased. She shoved her fingers through his hair and forced his head up so their gazes met and held. “I’ll let you thank me over and over, several times a day.” Her smile grew wicked. “Maybe I’ll demand it.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
It was his turn to get naughty, and he ripped open her jeans. She wasn’t wearing underwear.
“I got tired of the granny panties,” she said. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
He let out a purr of approval and tugged her pants down her legs. “Are you ready for some serious thanks?” he asked, as he prowled up her body from the foot of the bed.
“Oh, yes,” she breathed. “Thank me. Thank me hard and fast. And then hard and slow.”
He did. Over and over. And afterward, as they lay together in a tangle of arms and legs, he knew without a doubt that he could never thank her enough.