Craning my neck, I regarded him in a new light and with different eyes. Possibly Stefan was right. I'd never really listened to him, not with my heart. It was if someone flicked on a light bulb in a dark room and I could see the light. Stefan Lifsten, in his almost 1,000 years on this earth, had said he'd never loved anyone until he met me. He was willing to sacrifice it all to let me go.
And what did I do? I single-handedly did the worst possible thing to him. I ran from him. He assumed the worst, figuring I'd had enough and taken off. In his mind, I proved his theory right.
What did I know about love? I'd never loved a man in a romantic way until Stefan. Most of my relationships failed even before they had a chance to begin. Stefan and I were both stumbling through a relationship, a millennia old vampire and a hybrid vampire. Helplessly lost, hopelessly in love.
"I'm going to talk now." I pushed him to his back against the bed and climbed to straddle his hips. My fingers began methodically unbuttoning his shirt and once it was open, I met his gaze. "I love you, Stefan. The best night of my life happened the moment you walked into it." I leaned over him, pressing my breasts against his chest, fisting my hands into his thick hair. "I was foolish because I ran from you last night and I won't ever make that mistake again. I'm not giving you up. You were reborn for me."
Stefan had flipped me to my back before I could blink, standing at the foot of the bed. He tossed his shirt to the floor and his jeans were off in a blur of movement, lowering himself to his knees on the bed at my feet, staring down at the cover.
"Stefan?"
His face lifted up and the look he gave me was one I'd never seen before. His handsome face was stripped bare, no arrogance or age marring his smooth features. His was wide eyed as our eyes met, shocked at my admission. He looked impossibly young...and pure.
Slowly crawling to meet him, I sat in front of him, reaching out to carefully run my hands over his broad chest, my fingers caressing his pale pink nipples and stroking over the rippled muscles of his abdomen, his body jerking from my touch. He swallowed roughly and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Josephine," he whispered harshly. "You were made for me."
My hands froze in place, afraid to move. I glanced up at him through my eyelashes, my breathing shallow. He hadn't moved, he was simply watching me.
I nodded and smiled. My hands were still, waiting for his permission to continue. "You were saved for me."
Stefan sighed softly. "Touch me. Please." He was beautiful, completely unguarded with soft eyes. "Please."
Hesitantly, I continued my exploration over his soft skin, letting my mouth follow the path my hands had made. My lips and tongue skimmed over his stomach, back up to his chest. I traced around each of nipples with my fingers, rubbing my mouth over the satin skin of his neck, feeling the muscles in his throat constrict under my lips.
I inched closer to him, until our lips were almost touching. His impossibly pretty mouth was curved in a small smile, his fangs fully extended. I took a finger and caressed each one, moving as if to kiss him, instead my tongue tracing each sharp incisor. His chest rumbled, his blue eyes becoming unfocused.
Stefan rose to his knees. I scrambled back against the pillows as he rushed to move between my legs. One hand grasped his cock, rubbing it over my wet folds. The other gripped my waist, drawing me closer to him. His body draped over me and he pushed gently inside of me, causing us both to break into shuddering moans. His hips pulled back, dropping his head to against my shoulder. His large arms enveloped me, wrapping around my back, finally sheathing himself to the hilt inside of my pussy, our bodies perfectly aligning to one another.
"This is right," he moaned, burying his face in my hair. "Tell me this is right."
"Yes," I agreed desperately. "It's always perfect."
He began stroking in earnest, setting a steady pace. He bent to suck one of my nipples into his mouth, his fangs grazing along my tender skin as his tongue swirled and pulled.
"I never knew it was possible to have this, Josephine. To feel love, this kind of affection. Then only to feel the pain of losing you," Stefan admitted. "I do not like to feel vulnerable."
I pushed him to his back against the bed, never breaking stride. I straddled him, increasing our speed. Stefan hissed in pleasure and I kissed him hard, my mouth unrelenting. His hand grasped my face, pulling my lips from his to look into my eyes.
"I was in hell last night. You were lost to me and I was afraid too much had happened and you had left." He kissed me briefly before pulling away again, gazing back into my eyes as if he was staring into my very soul, his blue eyes becoming dark pools of emotion. "Vackra, it has always been you. Hur bevisar jag min h?ngivenhet till dig? Du har mig i bojor, din villig f?nge."
As he spoke the words to me, he once again gave me access to his thoughts. He was wondering how he could prove his devotion to me. He was letting me know he was my willing prisoner and I had him willingly shackled.
"I don't want you to be my prisoner, Stefan. I want you to be my lover. My equal. My partner." Offering my neck to him, I wordlessly spoke to him. "Bite me, Stefan. Please."
"Mine." Stefan clutched at my hips and began bucking his hips, moving me faster over his cock, his mouth on my throat. His fangs broke through my skin, the feel of his bite causing me to slip over the edge of desire.
"Yes!" I cried out, riding him harder, tightening and contracting around him, moaning and crying out loudly.
His hips jutted a few more times until he exploded inside of me, his bellow filling the apartment with his satisfaction as we rode out the last of our violent tremors.
We were still for a few moments, and I stretched out to lay across his chest. Filled with elation, I giggled. A smile broke over his face and he stared at me as if I'd suddenly grown two heads.
"We've probably woken all of our neighbors." I blushed. Turning serious, I met his eyes. "We're stuck with each other, Stefan. I can't be without you. I love you and you love me. We need to learn to make this work."
His answering smile was brilliant, dazzling in its intensity. "We will, Josephine."
Our lips met, his mouth soft and gentle. This kiss was different. We weren't frantically trying to reconnect this time, he was pouring all of his love and adoration into this kiss. When he lifted his lips from mine, he was smirking.
"I want everyone to be jealous of what I have. To feel what I just felt, I would gladly deal with the wrath of this entire city," Stefan boasted proudly. "Come with me. There is a shower with our name on it. I want to get you clean so I can get you dirty again."
"My sexy talking vampire," I chided, sneaking a kiss from his soft lips.
"Always."
Chapter 5 - Brother, Who Art Thou?
"Breakfast?" Stefan asked as I walked into the kitchen, my hair still damp from our shower. I was pleasantly surprised to see him standing in the kitchen, shirtless and clad only in tight boxer briefs, scrambling eggs over the stove. He had a plate on the counter with bacon stacked in neat piles plate.
"You can cook? But you don't eat," I mumbled grumpily, plopping down on the bar stool on the other side of the island. It appeared Stefan was also good at cooking. It truly wasn't fair.
Stefan pushed a mug of coffee in my direction and rolled his blue eyes sarcastically. "I may not eat, however it is not rocket science to scramble eggs and fry bacon, vackra." He wrinkled his nose as he glanced at the skillet. "Even though it appears to be disgusting."
Stirring half & half into my coffee and adding sugar, I took a sip and sighed happily as I let the caffeine work its magic. "You're always surprising me, Stefan."
"Ah, stick around. There are many things I can do that you have not had the pleasure of seeing yet." Stefan leered at me, his eyebrows waggling.
Damn vampire sexy talk. It was only 10 am and he was already making me want to move back into the bedroom. At the rate we were going, we should find a big bed to live in and forward all of the mail there.
"I could not agree more. What a wonderful idea!" Stefan had read my thoughts. He placed the plate and fork in front of me with great flourish and I narrowed my eyes and started eating. He moved to sit down beside of me and opened his laptop, opening his e-mail and scrolling through his messages.
"Anything interesting?" I asked casually as I bit into a piece of bacon.
"Mergers, acquisitions. More work for my attorney to handle," Stefan said distractedly.
A thought occurred to me as I chewed. "How does this work? You are a never aging vampire running a company. Doesn't anyone get suspicious?"
"The company is run by a board of directors, appointed by my human attorney. He knows what I am and has ties into the vampire world. My identity is kept hidden. I simply make the final decisions and my attorney takes care of things for me." Stefan glanced at me and smiled. "You will have a visitor this afternoon."
"A visitor? Who?" I asked, my curiosity thoroughly piqued. Stefan glanced up at me and gave me a grin that reminded me of a cat that had eaten the canary.