Scarlet Heat(17)

She is pack, the wolf affirmed in my head.

What the hell? How had Taylor won over my inner wolf so completely and quickly? A flood of images was my answer—Taylor leading the wolf inside the house, taking away the silver pain thing that had been biting his/my paw/arm. Then feeding him-me bacon (delicious man-food! the Wolf sent excitedly) and curling up close to him/me in bed, sharing rest and comfort the way pack members do.

Hmm…curling up in bed. Behind me, the warm, soft weight shifted and someone gave a contented sigh. A soft arm crept around my side and settled on my chest. Then someone slung a long, slender leg over my hip.

“Mmm,” Taylor murmured, sounding as if she was talking in her sleep. “So…warm.”

She was pretty warm herself, for a vamp. Not that I made a practice of sleeping with them. I inhaled deeply. God, she smelled good, even better than the night before. The Wolf was right—she did smell more like a wolf than a vampire. And there was another layer under her scent—a thin, scarlet ribbon of heat that seemed to be growing.

My hard-on got even harder but I frowned, lying perfectly still and concentrating on what my nose was telling me. That hot scent just under Taylor’s natural smell was familiar somehow. I knew it instinctively, although I hadn’t smelled it in a long time, not since I had been cast out by my home pack years ago. And I had never thought I would smell it on a vamp—or on any female other than a were or a shape shifter for that matter.

It can’t be right, I told myself uneasily. She’s a vamp. There’s no fucking way she’s going into—

“Mmm…” Behind me Taylor stretched and hummed in her sleep, sounding like she was just about to wake up. Her soft body pressed even closer to mine and it didn’t feel like she had many clothes on. My cock suddenly felt like it was going to burst. I had the urge to roll over in bed and take her in my arms but I couldn’t do that—couldn’t scare her or take advantage that way.

“Uh, Taylor?” I ventured, turning my head to see her. It was pretty dark in the room but the clock on the table said it was around three in the afternoon. Wasn’t that kind of early for a new vamp to be up? I had thought that only the really old ones could be awake during the day. Was it possible that Taylor was just stirring in her sleep and wasn’t about to wake up after all?

Gently, I pushed her leg off my hip and pulled her arm off my side. Then I turned over to face her. She was wearing one of my white t-shirts, which was so big on her it fell to her thighs. Lying on her side with her hands curled under her chin, she looked like an innocent little girl. Her long dark hair fell over her shoulders and her eyelashes were like thick black fans on her pale cheeks.

So fucking gorgeous…

Her beauty made me catch my breath, just as it had on the night we had been blood-bonded. I had been so certain I was never going to marry a vamp and had been right in the act of telling Corbin so and then she had showed up in the doorway of his office. I could still remember the way her white silk gown had clung to her lush curves and the crown of white rosebuds in her long, dark hair. Her eyes had been so huge and uncertain as she looked up at me—the expression on her face made my heart twist in my chest.

That was the reason I had said yes to Corbin’s crazy proposal—not the fifty thousand I owed him. But just because she looked at me like that. God…

Forgetting that I was supposed to keep my distance, I reached out to stroke a silky strand of hair out of her face. I tucked it behind her ear and Taylor murmured something in her sleep and suddenly cuddled closer to me.

The motion caused the white t-shirt she was wearing to ride up, showing the slope of her hip and the softly rounded curve of her bare ass.

Whoa… Okay, this wasn’t good. I was naked myself and having her so close was really affecting me. I tried pushing her gently away but Taylor only cuddled closer, pressing her body to mine and nuzzling her face against my chest like a kitten that wanted to be stroked. I could feel the soft globes of her breasts pressing against me through the thin cotton of the t-shirt and the warmth of her soft little pussy mound lower down, almost against my cock. Her feminine scent with that delicious thread of scarlet heat running through it teased my nose, making me nearly crazy with desire.

Damn, I wanted her! I had to get away.

“Taylor,” I said aloud, still trying to extricate myself from her embrace. “Wake up, sweetheart. I, uh, need to get up now.”

Actually, I needed to go to the bathroom and jerk off but I wasn’t about to advertise that. Who could have guessed that I would be so damn attracted to a vampire?

“Taylor,” I said again, more urgently. I tried to push her away again but she pressed closer and rubbed her cheek against my chest.