Valerie could feel the heat flushing her cheeks. It was partially from his teasing and partially because her body was tingling everywhere they touched. Lowering her eyes to his chest where her fingers were now nervously plucking at the black cotton of his T-shirt, she murmured, “Perhaps I was.”

“As you wish,” Anders whispered and when she glanced up wide-eyed, his lips settled on hers. Valerie had thought she must have imagined the passion that had exploded between them the last two times they’d kissed. That somehow her memory had made it seem better or stronger than it really had been. But if anything, her memory had been like a faded picture, unable to hold onto the vibrancy and sheer strength of the heat and need that erupted inside Valerie as his lips met hers. She was a grown woman, it wasn’t the first time she’d been kissed, but damn, no one had ever brought about as violent a reaction inside her as he did. She melted and imploded all at the same time.

When he broke the kiss to trail his mouth across her cheek, Valerie regained enough sense to become aware that she’d dropped Roxy’s leash and wrapped herself about him like clinging ivy . . . and he was just as wrapped around her. His arms were around her, his hands trailing over her back and sides, one leg between hers, the other hugging the outside of her leg as his lips found her ear and began to drive her wild. She withstood that briefly, but then twisted her head back in search of his again.

Anders responded to her silent request and kissed her again, his tongue thrusting into her mouth aggressively as one of his hands drifted around to find a breast. They both moaned into each other’s mouths as his hand cupped her breast. When the leg between both of hers rose up then and rubbed against her, Valerie thought the three-pronged assault of pleasure might kill her. It was incredibly overwhelming, seeming to come from everywhere, bouncing through her in wave after building wave.

Valerie wasn’t aware of his pushing her T-shirt up until he tugged the cup of her bra aside and cool air reached her nipple. Groaning into his mouth, she pressed into his caress as he squeezed and kneaded the soft flesh, and then began to pluck at the nipple.

“Semmy,” she pleaded when he broke their kiss, then gasped when he bent her back over one arm and lowered his head to claim her nipple, drawing it into his mouth and sending a whole new riot of sensation through her. Valerie dug her fingers into his shoulders and groaned, a sound echoed by Anders. Both of his hands were at her back now, one supporting her while the other . . . worked at her bra, she realized when it suddenly loosened around her.

Anders immediately raised his head and claimed her mouth again. Valerie returned his kisses eagerly, gasping as she felt the cool leather of the couch against her back and realized he’d lowered her onto it. In the next moment, his body covered hers and he broke their kiss. Raising himself on one arm, he used the other hand to push the silky cloth of her bra up over her breasts. His eyes then slid over her heated skin. Valerie squirmed under his gaze, then moaned as his mouth bent to claim one nipple.

When his free hand then covered the other, Valerie gasped and arched her back, one hand sliding around his neck, and the other covering his hand and squeezing even as he squeezed her. She was so overwhelmed by the sensations he was stirring in her that Valerie was slow to realize she wasn’t doing anything in return. She had never been a selfish lover, but right now she was taking and not giving. And that right there spoke to the effect he was having on her. Cripes, all she was doing was holding on for dear life to keep from drowning in the passion washing over her.

Releasing the hand she’d been clutching, Valerie slid her hand to his back and ran it down to his behind. She squeezed one cheek, urging him harder against her and then started to slide her hand around between them. She had reached the top of his jeans when Anders immediately stopped what he was doing and reached down to catch her hand.

“But—” Valerie’s protest ended when his mouth covered hers.

Anders’s kiss was determined and hard as he caught both of her wrists in one hand and raised them above her head, holding them in place so that she couldn’t touch him. Meanwhile, his other hand slid down her cheek, over her chest, down her belly and inside her jeans. It was only then that she realized that he’d apparently undone her jeans at some point while she was distracted, allowing his hand to slide easily between her skin and panties and slip between her legs.

Valerie jerked beneath him, gasping and making little whimpering sounds into his mouth as his fingers brushed over her sensitive skin. She also eased her legs apart, giving him better access. Anders accepted the invitation at once, his fingers dipping into her moist center.

His touch set off an explosion of pleasure inside Valerie that built and rushed over her wave after wave under his caress. It was incredible, overwhelming, all encompassing and terrifying. She wanted him to stop and she never wanted it to end. She wanted to drown in the pleasure he was creating in her and was afraid she would.

Valerie’s body was arched like a bow, taut and trembling. Her eyes were squeezed tightly closed and while she had been sucking desperately at his tongue when he first covered her mouth with his, now she couldn’t find the wherewithal to do even that. Her mouth was just open to him as she panted little puffs of breath into his that grew faster and shallower with each brush of his fingers over her.

When he suddenly pressed one finger into her while continuing to caress her, the tension inside her snapped like a thread. Valerie cried out into his mouth and bucked violently, and then she finally drowned under the pleasure assaulting her and sank into darkness.

When Valerie murmured sleepily and shifted, drawing her leg up along his, Anders opened his eyes to peer down at her. She was curled on her side, one arm and leg cast over him and her head on his chest. She shifted again, her leg now sliding down his. Damn. Even that small, unintentional caress in her sleep sent shivers of pleasure through him. But then his body was still sensitized after what had happened downstairs.

Anders had enjoyed every second of pleasure he’d given Valerie, experiencing every ripple and wave of excitement and pleasure that had traveled through her, including the end orgasm that had overwhelmed them both. Valerie wasn’t the only one who had passed out downstairs. But Anders had woken up first.

Aware that Valerie would be embarrassed if they were found on the couch by Leigh or Lucian, and unsure how long she’d stay unconscious, Anders had scooped her up and carried her up here to her room. He’d removed her jeans, T-shirt, and the already undone bra so that she would be more comfortable. Then he’d stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed with her. He wanted to be there when she woke up, to be sure that she hadn’t been too freaked out by what had happened.

Intimacy between life mates just wasn’t your everyday sexual experience. Anders had bedded hundreds, perhaps even thousands of women during the first century or two of his life, and had never experienced anything like it. Nothing even close.

His thoughts fled as Valerie shifted again and wiped a hand over her face. The action made him smile. She’d been drooling on him for the last half hour while she slept. Apparently, she was waking up enough to feel the liquid that dribbled across her own skin before dropping onto his chest.

Lifting his head, Anders peered at her face in time to see her eyes blink open. A heartbeat later, she stiffened in his hold, and then jerked up, banging him in the chin with the top of her head. Wincing, Anders let his head drop back on the bed.

“Ow,” Valerie muttered, following closely with, “Sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Anders said with a wry smile, rubbing his chin with the hand not presently wrapped around her back.

“We’re in my room,” she noted with surprise.

“I carried you up here,” Anders explained, and when she raised the sheet covering them both to peer down at herself, added, “And took your jeans and stuff off so you’d sleep more comfortably.”

“You left my panties on,” she said, blushing.

“Yes. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, and then gave an embarrassed laugh. “I suppose it’s silly that I would have been embarrassed if you hadn’t left them on, but . . .”

“But you would have,” Anders finished with understanding.

Valerie nodded, and then tipped her head back, carefully this time, and eyed him uncertainly. “I fainted, didn’t I? I’ve never fainted before. Ever.”

Anders hesitated and then said, “Your system is weaker than normal right now, and you were on your back, putting pressure on your wound.” All of that was true of course, but it wasn’t the reason she’d fainted.

“I didn’t feel any pain,” she said with a frown.

“You were rather distracted,” he pointed out delicately.

Valerie flushed and lowered her head again briefly. When she raised it a moment later, there was a determined expression on her face. “Yes, I was definitely rather distracted. And selfish. You didn’t get to—”

“It’s fine,” Anders interrupted, knowing where her thoughts were headed. She felt like it had all been one-sided and that he had given her pleasure while not enjoying it himself. She couldn’t be further from the truth, but he couldn’t tell her that, or explain how he could have enjoyed her pleasure with her.

“That’s sweet, Anders, but it’s not fine,” Valerie said on a sigh, and raised herself up enough to look him in the face. She began to slide her hand down his stomach as she said, “I could do for you what you—”

She stopped abruptly when Anders caught the hand that had nearly reached the top of his boxers. As tempted as he was, he couldn’t let her touch him. While it would certainly give him pleasure, Valerie, too, would experience that pleasure with him and he couldn’t explain that without explaining everything. She wasn’t ready to hear the truth of his origins yet.

Raising her fingers to his lips he pressed a kiss to them, then released her hand to slide his around her neck and draw her face down to his. His kiss was as light and gentle as it had been on her fingers. At least, he’d intended it to be, but the moment their lips met, the passion came roaring back like a freight train. Reeling under the blow, Anders rolled in the bed, pressing Valerie into the mattress as his body covered hers. The feel of her flesh against his was exhilarating, her naked chest to his, her naked legs entwining with his . . . It all started a clamoring in his body it was impossible to ignore.

“Semmy,” Valerie gasped when he tore his mouth from hers to follow a trail down her neck.

Anders smiled against her throat at the nickname. No one had ever called him that. His mother had only ever called him Semen, and to everyone else he had given the name Anders and nothing else. But he liked Semmy. On Valerie’s lips it sounded like an endearment or a prayer.

Valerie shifted beneath him, sliding her heels down the backs of his calves and then digging them in so that she could arch her pelvis into him. The action had an immediate effect. Blood rushed to his groin, turning the semi-hardness that had been building there into a full-on, raging hard-on.

Growling, deep in his throat, Anders caught the fingers of one hand in her hair and pulled, drawing her head back and elongating her throat as he thrust back. Both of them groaned at the passion that rushed through them, and Anders felt his fangs slide out. He froze briefly, and then allowed them to gently scrape across her flesh, shivering along with her before forcing them back where they belonged and continuing down to crest one breast and close over her nipple.

“Oh, God, Semmy, Semmy, Semmy,” Valerie breathed, cradling his head as he suckled.

Anders nipped at her flesh lightly, then raised his head to claim her lips again before sliding further down her body, his lips and tongue tasting her upper stomach, her belly, dipping into her belly button . . .

“Semmy?” She shuddered under his teasing, her legs shifting restlessly. When he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties and began to draw them down, Valerie lifted her behind to help. He slid them down her legs and off, then let them drop to the floor as he stood to remove his boxers. The moment he stood, Valerie rose up and reached to help him. Anders didn’t think there was any harm in that until she reached for his erection while his boxers were still around his knees.

Anders sucked in a sharp breath at the shock of pleasure, but was almost immediately distracted by the gasp she released as she experienced that pleasure with him. When she raised confused eyes to him, Anders brushed her hand away and cupped her head to kiss her. It was a quick, hard kiss intended to distract her from the shared pleasure, but he knew before he raised his head that it hadn’t worked, and wasn’t surprised when she immediately frowned and said, “Anders, I—”

That’s as far as he allowed her to get. Catching her legs beneath each knee, he tugged her to the edge of the bed, dropped to his knees between her legs and sought out a more effective way to distract her. The moment his lips pressed against her warm core, Anders knew he’d found the perfect way to make her forget what she’d experienced. Heck, he was having trouble remembering what he was trying to distract her from himself as her pleasure began to course through him in growing waves.