Darkworld - Hot Water Part 2

"Biting someone during the s.e.x act is something reserved for bloodmates," he explained slowly. "Some vampires do it with everyone they f.u.c.k, as a sort of thrill seeking act. If the person they happen to bite really is their bloodmate, they become bonded to the person."

"Bonded? What does that mean for a vampire?" Eden eyed him coolly, but her fingers did dangerously hot things to his hard c.o.c.k, rubbing the head and stroking ever closer to the spot beneath the crown that drove him insane with pleasure.

"It means they can never drink from another person again. Bonded bloodmates can only drink from their mate. If the mate dies, the vampire dies of starvation."

Profound silence followed Colin's words. He tamped down a little rush of anger with himself. He'd let the conversation turn far too serious.

"Look, it's a complicated mating thing. It doesn't have anything to do with you and me and this moment," he said, trying to backpedal his way out of the situation.

Eden frowned at him a little. "I asked. I didn't expect the answer to be some sugar coated plat.i.tude," she told him. "I just wanted to understand." "Well, now you do," he said gruffly, feeling really uncomfortable.

Eden kissed him again. "It's okay, Colin. I still want to f.u.c.k you."

His good humor returned with a rush. "Good," he murmured. "Cause I think it's time."

Colin slid both hands under her a.s.s, lifting her and guiding her over his erection. Her golden eyes held his steadily as she slid down, her p.u.s.s.y stretching to accommodate his girth. She whimpered a little as she rocked her hips, taking the last of his length inside her. He flexed his c.o.c.k and her eyes went wide with shock.

"Oh G.o.ds. That feels so..."

Colin did it again and she shuddered. He grinned.

"It's j-just that it's h-hitting..."

He did it a third time and she jerked in his arms, her skin rippling as she came. She moaned, her fingers digging into his shoulders. He held her as her o.r.g.a.s.m subsided to little s.h.i.+vers. Remaining still while her slick p.u.s.s.y clutched his c.o.c.k was torture, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. Watching her fly apart in his arms made him even hotter.

She drew a shuddering breath and opened her eyes. Desire flared in their amber irises. Her hips rotated, grinding against him. Heat flooded Colin's groin and he groaned out loud. Eden smiled and did it again. This time, she squeezed him with her inner muscles.

"s.h.i.+t!" he hissed between clenched teeth.

She braced her hands on his shoulders and began to ride him with a twisting movement that made every thrust feel like wet velvet wound tighter and tighter around his c.o.c.k.

Eden leaned close to him and nipped the side of his neck. Colin went rigid as intense pleasure washed over him. He barely hung onto his control by a thread. Any of her thrusts could push him over now. His b.a.l.l.s tightened painfully. His entire body burned. Every nerve ending he had seemed to be centered in his groin.

Her stiff nipples poked his chest and he twisted one, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. She tossed her head, moaning a little. He noticed a slight flush on her honey colored skin and gooseflesh along her arms. Her breath came in swift pants.

Eden's hips undulated against his and Colin pa.s.sed the point of no return. She ground against him and her swollen c.l.i.t pressed against his pubic bone. She s.h.i.+vered and her p.u.s.s.y clamped down on him. With a cry, Colin lost control. His c.o.c.k throbbed, expanding in the tight s.p.a.ce of her channel. His e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n burst from the head of his c.o.c.k to bathe her insides as she cried out and came once more.

One oddly lucid thought speared his l.u.s.t soaked brain. Dragons could only get pregnant after mating. He'd sure as h.e.l.l shot his seed deep inside her, enough to knock her up if he had been her mate. A quick vision of Eden, her belly round with his child made Colin's eyes snap open in shock. He had to get a grip on himself. His wild ideas had no place in a purely s.e.xual encounter.

Eden lay sated on his chest, her breathing rapid. He wrapped his arms around her, stroking her long naked back.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," he said softly. "You don't need the kink to get off. Whoever told you that obviously doesn't know you very well."

She stirred slightly, but remained draped over his chest, her head nestled in the crook of his neck. "It was my brother," she replied, her voice m.u.f.fled.

Chapter Three.

Lying boneless on Colin's chest in the aftermath of her o.r.g.a.s.ms, the two of them still sunk deep into the hot water of the tub, Eden's icy b.i.t.c.h resurfaced. His thighs bore her full weight yet he hadn't protested at all. He was far too nice a man for her, the b.i.t.c.h thought. As the black sheep of the family, the decades old ideas of honor, home, and hearth were pure bulls.h.i.+t to a dragon like her. And her oldest brother used that bulls.h.i.+t against her every chance he got. She knew Sean's tactics well. He used words to push her b.u.t.tons and hopefully sour her on her lifestyle. Calling her the Queen of Kink and telling her that she didn't know how to have meaningful s.e.x, definitely set her off. Her younger brother told her that Sean would never give up trying to get her to come home and work in the family business.

Antaeus International was a huge company with offices around the world. Her brothers bought up funeral homes and cemeteries and repackaged them for the ma.s.ses, turning out cookie cutter products at low cost. The Antaeus men were the darlings of the death care industry because of their success. Her whole family worked for AI and once upon a time Eden had too. But working for her family didn't interest her any longer. She liked being a photographer and traveling the world. Sure, it got lonely sometimes and hotel suites got old after awhile, but she could never give up her camera for a desk job. It just wasn't in her to lock away her creative side. She needed it like she needed air to breathe.

"Your brother doesn't know jack."

Colin's voice rumbled in his chest, vibrating against her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s and rousing her from her unpleasant thoughts. Despite the fact that the cold b.i.t.c.h had been the only face she'd shown Colin, he seemed to instinctively know that there was more to her than that. His words about Sean not knowing jack proved it. The pain of recalling Sean's words had the b.i.t.c.h coming out to protect Eden's emotions. But as soon as Colin made his crack about her brother, the b.i.t.c.h slinked off, leaving Eden lying vulnerable on her lover's hard body.

Dear G.o.ds, she had never been as comfortable in a man's arms as she was in Colin's. He managed to be amusing, sweet, and Alpha without being an a.s.shole. In her eyes, he was an unbeatable combination. Her curiosity about vampire biting habits had seemed to make him a little uncomfortable, but she chalked it up to biting being an intensely personal thing for him.

She sighed, snuggling her face into his neck more. "My brother doesn't know me. He only thinks he does."

"Siblings, especially older ones, can be like that," Colin agreed.

"Spoken like a man with an older sibling," she chuckled.

"Two."

"Holy s.h.i.+t. How do you survive when all of you are Alpha?"

Colin laughed. "I only have one brother."

"Does that mean your sister isn't Alpha?" she asked.

"No, she is, but for vampires, being Alpha comes into play more with mates than siblings. The Alpha always has to be the one in power, the leader, the one who has the urge within him to force submission from others. For Acerbians vampires that instinctive drive is strongest with regard to our mates. We do show our Alpha in other venues, in business particularly. My brother is quite ruthless. My sister is cutthroat. I don't take any s.h.i.+t from people. All three of us are natural leaders. We don't fight each other in the office because each of us has our own area of expertise. Besides, vampires can be just as clannish as dragons. Family ties are important so we just don't posture and play the Alpha card on that level. However, we are very aggressive and possessive when it comes to mates. " He stroked his hand over her back and her inner dragon preened, loving his touch. "If my brother hit on you, then he would see my Alpha."

The harsh tone in Colin's voice should have sent up red flags. She should be pus.h.i.+ng him away at this point. After all, she couldn't afford to get involved with someone. Instead, she closed her eyes and let him hold her. Lying in the luxurious warmth of the water with the hard muscles of his body beneath hers, his c.o.c.k still partially within her, all combined to make her feel incredibly comfortable. It wasn't very often that she got the opportunity to just be a woman...

"Hey! You're not falling asleep on me, are you?"

Eden blinked, her eyes opening sleepily. s.h.i.+t! She hadn't fallen asleep but she was so comfortable that it had been a near thing. She flexed her inner muscles and felt the head of his c.o.c.k still lodged inside her. Yeah, he was still slightly hard so only seconds had gone by. She'd never had a man's voice soothe her as Colin's did.

He sucked in a breath when she squeezed him. "You know, I could totally f.u.c.k you again, but I'm feeling a little like a prune. Can we get out now?"

She raised her head and found him smiling at her. "Sure." She lifted herself off of him, his c.o.c.k slipping free. As she stood up, she grabbed a hotel robe from the stack lying on the edge of the tub. She stepped out and wrapped it around herself, reaching for a towel to dry her hair. Colin came up behind her and pushed her hair aside so he could kiss the side of her neck.

"Are you gonna kick me out now?" he asked.

"Don't you biters have to be home before the sun?"

He shrugged. "Not really. It just gives me a sunburn. And that's the midday sun not the morning sun."

She turned in his arms, her eyes searching his midnight blue ones. "If I send you away now, will you come back tomorrow?"

"If you tell me why you're suddenly sending me away," he replied cautiously.

Eden bit her lip. She wanted him to stay. She didn't want him to go. However, she needed time to think. Her whole perspective on s.e.x and men and relations.h.i.+ps had s.h.i.+fted on its axis and her emotions seemed off balance from it. "I need to think," she said honestly. "When I picked you up tonight, I was angry and determined to prove my brother wrong." She paused, biting her lip for a moment. "I let his words make me question myself, my motivations, my s.e.xuality. You've made me realize that I never should have questioned that. Instead, I should have questioned other things."

"What other things?"

She shook her head. "Nothing to do with you. Things about my family. About why my brother would feel the need to say such a thing to me."

Colin's expression became sympathetic. "That's certainly what I would be questioning." He paused then went on in a carefully neutral voice. "You know, you don't have to invite me back tomorrow. It's okay if you want this to end here."

Her eyes widened. "You don't have to say that, Colin. You can be the Alpha with me. I rather like him, you know."

His eyes flashed and he pulled her into his arms, kissing her. The embrace was hard and rough, but she enjoyed it.

When he lifted his head, she grinned at him and he growled. "If you don't call me, I'll be back here at five pounding on your door."

She opened her robe, swiped the first two fingers of her hand across her clan mark then pressed them to his lips. "I promise. Dragon swear."

Colin's lips quirked up at the corners. "Dragon swear? Just what exactly does that mean?"

She wrinkled her nose at him. "It's like pinky swear or cross my heart... only it's a promise on my clan mark. You already know that clan marks are different for every dragon, the mark intrinsic to each. Dragon swear is a child's phrase, but its roots are deep in each dragon's personal honor."

He nodded. "I understand."

In the bedroom, she watched him dress. Then he took out his Blackberry. "Where's your cell phone?" he asked.

She got it out and he grunted when he saw they had the same phone. "Put my number in it," he told her and rattled it off.

Eden recognized the area code as the same one where her family lived. How odd that Colin lived in the same area, she thought. She gave him her number, watching his brows shoot up when he heard the area code. He punched in the number and pocketed his phone. "You have the same area code as I do," he remarked.

She nodded. "I get my mail at my family's house. I don't have a permanent place to live. I travel too much."

Colin's eyes glinted, but he didn't say anything. She walked him to the door of the suite. He bent and kissed her hard, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to tease hers. She moaned. He groaned. Their mouths parted.

"Call me any time tomorrow," he told her.

"I will," she agreed, and then he left. She closed the door and flopped down on the edge of the bed. It reeked of s.e.x and vanilla.

Eden breathed deeply of Colin's scent and her stomach clenched. Definitely something inside her felt drawn to him.

Something primal and uncontrollable. The moment she'd smelled him, her whole body had gone into some weird mode. She hadn't really wanted to talk to him at first. She just wanted to f.u.c.k him... to have him f.u.c.k her. In the tub, her dragon had fought her, turning the water hotter. The urge to bathe Colin in her dragonfire rose within her, making her ask him about vampire matings.

She sucked in a shaky breath. G.o.ds. If her brother Sean could see her now, he would be all about the I-told-you-sos.

He wanted her mated and settled. He didn't like the fact that she roamed the world, far from the family, far from his influence and control. He made no bones about the fact that he wanted Eden to be more like her sister.

Diandra, the eldest of the Antaeus clan, had married a werewolf. Together, they held dominion over a large pack in Scotland. Diandra was everything their parents had ever expected of their daughter. Smart and successful, owning a number of ISPs in the UK, she helped her mate run their corporation as well as the pack.

Ruan McCallen's bloodlines could be traced back to the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. His people were proud and fierce. At first, they had been resistant to their Alpha mating a dragon, but when Diandra had easily won a bloodmatch challenge for Ruan, they grew respectful. By the time she'd spit out twin cubs a couple of years after mating, every wolf in the pack loved her.

Her sister had always been perfect, Eden admitted ruefully. She'd mated and had children. She had a normal job.

She was Eden's opposite in every way. Shoulders slumped, Eden wondered why she continually beat herself up over this. She wouldn't ever fit in, would never be a productive member of the family like Diandra, or any of her siblings for that matter. Declan and Holden were just as mired in the family business as Sean. Only she had ever felt stifled working there.

She'd tried for years, working in marketing where her artistic and creative forces fit best, but in the end, the corporate world had sucked the life out of her until she became an automaton, going through the motions of living.

That's when she'd quit the business and thrown off the mantle of her family ties. She'd headed to New York City with little more than a suitcase full of clothes, her cameras and laptop, and a portfolio. The fact that it had taken her less than a year to rise to the top of her profession was a testament to the business ac.u.men she'd learned from her family. She ruthlessly used those business skills when she had to, but always felt a little dirty doing so.

Stretching out on the bed, Eden hugged a pillow to her chest, her nose filled with Colin's scent. The man was obviously successful at his job. She knew the brand of his watch, the cut of his jeans and silk s.h.i.+rt. Top names.

Expensive names. Usually, she avoided men like him. Men who reminded her of her brothers, unless they were submissives she could flog. Taking a cat o' nine tails to the muscular back of a man who had untold power in the corporate world held endless satisfaction for her.

Once upon a time, at an invitation only club above the popular Paris nightclub Wicked Pleasures, the master had told her that she didn't have the nature of a true dom. He hadn't turned her away from the club, because she followed the rules and paid well. However, he had held her hand, stroking her palm, and told her that she used the lifestyle to hide from her past and work out the pain and aggression that filled her because the two halves of her life did not sync her past and her present-future.

At the time, she'd scoffed at the zen in his words. Tonight, she sighed over how prophetic they had been. Being with Colin had not only showed her how wrong Sean was, but that she had been too. The master had been right. She wasn't a true dom. The lifestyle wasn't for her. What she had shared with Colin had been fantastic. s.e.x at its purist.

G.o.ds, her p.u.s.s.y still ached from the pounding his huge c.o.c.k had given her. She knew she would call him. Every atom in her body wanted her to.

Briefly, she wondered what it would be like to have a relations.h.i.+p, to have someone to come home to. An ache bloomed behind her breastbone. Maybe she should look into alternatives to her lifestyle. A long time ago, when she'd worked for Antaeus International, she'd lived with someone, a dragon who worked for the company too. When Eden left the company to go to New York and become a fas.h.i.+on photographer, she'd left Vahid behind as well. He was a great guy, just not for her in the long term. She hoped he'd found someone else to be with.

The scent of vanilla permeated the air. She wondered why Colin affected her so strongly. His scent, his touch, everything about him fired her senses intensely. He roused her dragon as no one ever had before. In fact, her dragon waited calmly at the moment, serene in the notion that she would be seeing Colin again very soon.

With a sigh, Eden curled up on her side and closed her eyes. Her dragon was right. She would call him tomorrow.

What had happened between them was so fantastic she would be an idiot not to see if it could be duplicated. As she began to drift to sleep, she wondered fleetingly what it would be like if what she and Colin had shared could be duplicated every night of their lives from this point forward. As soon as she thought it, sadness filled her. Trying to make something like that work would be next to impossible and she didn't know if she even had it in her to try...

Chapter Four.

Blah, blah, blah.

Colin slapped a politely interested expression on his face, while giving his thoughts free rein. Three days of listening to PR bulls.h.i.+t by every top company in New York City had left him irritated and bored. To give them their due, they had been invited to pitch their best at him. It wasn't their fault that their ideas had fallen on deaf ears because he hadn't liked the way Marius had strong-armed him into this trip. His brother thought their company image needed sprucing up. Colin thought that paying Madison Avenue to spruce up the image of a cemetery as old and reputable as theirs was a waste of money.

Still, here he sat listening to the patter that sounded almost identical to every pitch he'd heard since he arrived.

People had such ridiculous ideas about cemeteries. No one had come up with anything creative, which didn't surprise him.

When he realized that the young marketing whiz with the presentation materials wasn't going to hit him with something amazing, Colin let his mind drift to the one thing that did hold his attention... Eden. Just thinking her name meant he had to fight his body in order to keep his c.o.c.k from embarra.s.sing him in a room full of men. His sleep had been restless and his dreams filled with her presence. He couldn't remember ever having a woman affect him so strongly. He'd been with dragon women before. They were l.u.s.ty creatures and Colin liked to f.u.c.k. Consequently, he'd been with a lot of dragon women. But Eden differed from all the rest. Beneath that air of confidence she wore like a second skin lay a vulnerability that roused his protective instincts. Something to do with her family...

Colin knew that not every family worked like a well-oiled machine as his family did. He'd seen some evidence of squeaky wheels in his sister's new family. His brother-in-law's youngest sister apparently hung out with celebrity do nothing, party-going jetsetters. Colin didn't have time for non-productive members of society. He'd heard that Declan's spoiled sister wouldn't forgo a weekend of parties even for his wedding. Colin never understood that lack of familial caring and support.

On the other hand his eyes followed the PR guy as he pointed to a pie chart sometimes family could be a bit overbearing. The G.o.ds knew that Colin's older brother Marius ruled the Granville clan, small as it was, with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Marius liked playing Machiavelli. Over the last century, he'd tried controlling Colin with little things, devious things, but Colin always detected Marius' machinations. On the rare occasion that they had differing opinions, Colin would put his foot down. He disliked the unpleasantness of arguing with Marius, but he did it when he had to.

He hadn't had strong enough reasons to get out of this PR thing and besides, the trip to the Big Apple had turned into a lot of fun... a lot of s.e.xual fun...

With his mind right back on Eden, Colin checked his watch. Only a couple more hours and he could call her. He'd really hoped she'd take the initiative and call him, but so far, that hadn't happened. In his head, he had a sudden vision of himself doing exactly what he'd told her he would do... kick down her door at 5 pm. She drew him like a magnet and he couldn't just walk away and forget about her.