Scarlet Heat(24)

We didn’t have a very long ceremony, he pointed out.

No. And no reception, either, I said, wondering where he was going with this. Want me to conjure a wedding cake? If I can make it real enough you should be able to feel and taste everything. I can even make a buffet table filled with nothing but bacon. For that matter, I can make you a buffet table out of bacon. I was trying to joke, trying to defuse some of the tension of being inside each other’s minds but it didn’t seem to be working.

Not interested in any of that. Victor’s mental voice was rough. But there is one thing we skipped—the part after Corbin pronounced us bonded.

What do you mean? I looked up at him quizzically.

I mean this. Victor stepped forward and took me in his arms. The part about kissing the bride.

Suddenly his mouth was on mine, hot and sweet— incredibly gentle but urgent at the same time. For a moment I let myself melt against him, giving in to the kiss, to his strong arms around me, pulling me close to his big, hard body. And then I realized what I was doing.

“Oh!” I gasped aloud, losing my concentration. I pulled back from him, breaking our connection both mentally and physically. The scene we had created together vanished, leaving me sitting in only a t-shirt on the brown leather couch, staring into his eyes.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

I blinked, trying to clear the glam-vision from my head but it didn’t want to go somehow.

“Why…why did you do that?” I asked at last.

He shrugged. “I was kind of sorry I didn’t get a chance to do it the day we got bonded. Did it bother you?”

“I…wasn’t expecting it. That’s all.” I stood up from the couch abruptly. “Look, I should really go do something with my clothes. I can’t, uh, run around in just your t-shirt the whole time I’m here.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” His warm brown eyes traveled up and down my body slowly, making me blush and cross my arms over my breasts. I was starting to get those feelings again—just as I had after I had fed on him the night before. What the hell was going on? I pressed my thighs together tightly where I was suddenly achy and hot.

“Victor…” I frowned at him and he shrugged.

“Hey, sorry. Can’t a guy admire his own wife?”

“I’m not your wife—not really,” I reminded him. “This is just an arrangement and after the three months are up we’ll go our separate ways—just like you said.”

He frowned and sighed. “Yeah, I guess I did say that.”

“You said it because it’s true,” I said and cleared my throat. Okay, it was time to put our little glam-session behind us and get practical here. “So where are your washer and dryer?” I asked.

“Out in the garage but you’ll have to let me do your laundry—there are too many windows out there.” He gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry about that, by the way. Didn’t know I’d be having a vampire wife—uh, houseguest when I designed this damn place.”

“It’s okay,” I told him, shifting from foot to foot. The glam-kiss we had so briefly shared kept replaying itself in my head and I was really starting to feel an urgent need to get away and have some time on my own. “You couldn’t have known that Corbin would force you to marry some crazy second-rate vampire girl.”

“Hey, don’t talk that way about yourself.” He reached up and caught my hand, his touch sending a warm, electrical current through my entire body. It intensified my other problem, making my nipples hard and my pussy wet.

“Victor…” I said, looking at him uncertainly. Could he see what was happening to me? Could he sense it somehow? I kept my other arm self consciously across my breasts, hoping he couldn’t see the pink points of my nipples pressing against the thin white cotton.

Victor shifted on the couch and his nostrils flared, as though he was scenting something.

“Goddamn, you smell good,” he murmured, pulling me closer until I was standing right between his knees. “Didn’t know a vamp could smell like that.”

Suddenly all I could think about was leaning down to kiss him—for real this time. I wouldn’t have to lean very far—he was so big that even with him sitting down and me standing up, we were nearly eye to eye. Standing between his knees I could smell his warm scent and feel his heat. I wanted to step into that heat, to melt into his arms and let him warm me up completely.

God, was I going crazy here? I can’t do that, I reminded myself. I don’t want to do that—not ever again. Besides, I’m a vampire and he’s a were—we’re natural enemies.