Lynsay Sands - The Reluctant Vampire

Shaking her head, she slid out of the booth, and then had to grab the table to stay on her feet as her legs quaked beneath her. Cripes, she was a mess. Over two thousand years old and quivering like an untried virgin. This was pathetic, she decided, reaching for her coat. She slid it on, and then nearly jumped out of it and her skin both when a hand landed on her shoulder.

Harper had returned, she realized, glancing around and managing a smile.

“The car is on the way,” he said, grabbing his own coat and tugging it on.

Drina mumbled what might have been a “Good” or could just have easily been an “Oh God,” and then he had his coat on, had caught her hand, and was leading her through the tables toward the exit.

“Have fun, kids,” someone sang out.

Drina glanced around to see their waitress standing aside and smiling as they passed, and then Harper was tugging her through the door.

Snow and wind hit her in the face as they stepped into the darkness. Drina squinted against it and followed half-blind as Harper led her around the building to a narrow alley leading toward the back. The wind died abruptly once he pulled her into the cover it offered, and Drina sighed with relief. She wasn’t used to this northern climate.

She turned to say as much to Harper, but never got the words out. His mouth was suddenly on hers, his hands and body pushing her back against the cold, hard bricks of the building as his body plastered itself to her front. What followed was an explosion of passion like she’d never experienced in all her life. It washed over her like the fallout from an atom bomb, only to turn and roll through her again, and Drina merely grabbed at his arms and held on as he drove his tongue into her and urged the sides of her coat apart so that he could run his hands over her body.

His hands molded her breasts, her waist, slid down the front of her thighs and then around to their backs before rising to clasp her behind the upper legs and lift her against the wall until their faces were level. Once he had her where he wanted her, he used his hold to spread and raise her legs around his hips.

Drina instinctively hooked her booted ankles behind his waist, helping to take her weight as he pinned her against the wall with his hips. It freed his hands, and he immediately reached one hand to her breasts, using it to tug her neckline and bra aside, baring one to the night air.

Drina gasped as cold curled around her nipple, but then he broke their kiss to lower his head and latch onto it, his hot moist breath bringing on a heat that had her moaning and squirming against the wall. When his teeth grazed the tender nub, she cried out and raised her face to the night sky. Cold flakes flurried around them, landing on her eyelids, cheeks, and lips, and her breath came in small gasps, forming mini clouds that floated heavenward.

When she felt his hand brush against her thigh, moving upward, Drina closed her eyes and held a breath that shot out on a cry when he found her core. Digging her nails into his shoulders, she thrust her hips away from the wall, into the caress, and twisted her head to the side, suddenly gasping for breath, as he slid her panties aside to touch her again.

“Christ,” Harper growled against her breast, and then raised his head to growl almost helplessly, “You’re so hot and wet.”

Drina opened her eyes and lowered her head to meet his gaze, and then moaned as his fingers moved across her tender flesh again.

“I want you,” she gasped, writhing under his touch.

The silver in Harper’s eyes spiked, and he claimed her mouth again.

His fingers retreated then, but she felt his hand moving between them and knew he was undoing his pants. She kissed him more frantically with the anticipation of what was coming, and then a car horn honked.

They both froze for a heartbeat, and then Harper broke the kiss and they both turned to stare blankly at the back end of the car just visible at the curb. Harper dropped his head to her chest with a groan. He gave it a slight shake and straightened again. His hand moved briefly between them again, presumably doing up what he’d undone, and then he caught her at the waist and eased back.

Silently cursing the driver for being so damned prompt, Drina unhooked her ankles and allowed her legs to drop back down to support her. Harper held on for a moment as she found her balance in the thigh-high boots, and then he released her to quickly tug her dress back into place before catching her hand and leading her out of the alley to the car.

Harper had grabbed her right hand with his left, and didn’t let go as he ushered her into the car but followed and closed the door, all while gripping her fingers. He continued to clasp them firmly as he leaned forward to speak to the driver and as he sat back.

Drina peered at their entwined fingers, and then glanced up to his face, worry fluttering through her as she noted that he was staring out the window, his expression grim. She fretted over what was going on in his head for the duration of the ride, but couldn’t think of anything to say to distract him. Her body was still humming from what had nearly taken place in the alley, which, now that she was able to think a bit, would have been a catastrophe, she thought with a grimace. Harper may be putting the reawakening of his “appetites” down to residuals from Jenny, but the truth was they were life mates, and it was said life mates often fainted after sex during the first year or so. They could have been lying there unconscious in the snow for who knew how long had the car not arrived. Okay, so maybe she didn’t mind that the driver was prompt after all, she thought wryly.

Harper stared out the window, Drina’s hand warm and soft in his. He couldn’t seem to let it go; it was a lifeline keeping him tethered as his mind suggested the most incredible and impossible things, the wildest of which was the suggestion that she was his life mate. He’d nearly taken Drina there in an alley, up against a wall, during a freaking blizzard, for God’s sake.

Harper wanted to think it was the Sweet Ecstasy, and it just might have been, he acknowledged, but what had happened in the bar itself was plaguing him. On the dance floor and then at the table, when he’d touched her it had caused him pleasure, and not the “it-pleases-me-to-please-you” kind, but actual physical pleasure. Tingles of awareness and excitement had shuddered through his body with every caress he’d given her, urging him on to do things he’d never even considered prior to this night.

While the way he’d turned his back to the rest of the club had hidden what he was doing, touching her the way he had in their booth, with people all around, had been madness. But even worse, he’d wanted to do more, and wasn’t really sure how he’d managed not to. It had taken great effort. He wanted to touch her now too and was holding her hand to keep from grabbing her by the waist and pulling her onto his lap. He wanted to push her coat and dress off her shoulders, remove her bra, and feast on her flesh. But mostly he wanted to tug her skirt up, rip her panties off, and sink himself in all that warm, moist heat he’d found between her legs. And he didn’t particularly care whether the driver was watching while he did it.

Harper had never wanted anyone as badly as this, never felt such a bone-deep need. Not even for Jenny. The thought shamed him. Jenny was dead, she’d died leaving few to grieve her, just himself and her sister, and yet he couldn’t remember her face and now wanted another woman with more passion than he’d ever felt for her.

It’s the Sweet Ecstasy, Harper assured himself.

But the Sweet Ecstasy wouldn’t allow him to experience Drina’s pleasure, another part of his mind argued, and he’d definitely felt tingles race through his body when he’d extended his fingers and let the tips brush across her nipples. The first time had been an accident. He hadn’t realized his hand rested that close to her. But the excitement that had coursed through him had made him do it again, and more.