Rafe tore his mouth from hers, gasping for breath in tandem with her. He pressed his lips fiercely to her temple. She heard him whisper, “I must stop.”

She was crestfallen immediately. She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted more. It had been so long since she had felt this way…if indeed she had ever felt this way. She couldn’t recall a time when she had become aroused so quickly. There was something about him, something savage underneath all of that polished exterior.

Yet, contrary to his statement about stopping he began to rain fierce kisses down the side of her face and neck. Looking to encourage him further, her hands slid over him. She didn’t know why she hadn’t employed them earlier. She had perhaps been too stunned to react. Now, however, threatened with him stopping all that was making her feel so good, she stroked her crooked fingers up over the thick definition of his pectoral muscles. He wasn’t a bodybuilder, but she could suddenly feel just how strong he was…how buff he was. It excited her even more and she began to trade kisses with him. Every time he rained a kiss on her forehead, ear, or neck, she did the same. She brought one hand up over his shoulder, then crept it up his neck and around until she was raking her stiffened fingertips through the hairs at the base of his neck. He jerked and she heard him gasp in a hard breath. Clearly her touch compelled him when suddenly he returned to her mouth, kissing her savagely. It was as if she had caressed him in the ultimate erogenous zone…and was reaping the ultimate reward.

Clearly he wasn’t going to stop.

Good, she thought heatedly. She didn’t want him to stop. She didn’t ever want him to stop. The wild thought shocked her even as they drank from each other’s mouths as deeply as two people could.

His body surged into hers, crushing her against the door. She agreed with his attempt to get closer to her, so she lifted a leg and hooked it high up on his thigh, opening for him more than a little, allowing him to settle his hard heat against her softer one. This time when he broke away from her mouth it was with a more savage sound. He jerked her body tightly against his even as he brought a hand up to sweep her hair forward over her shoulder, exposing the back of her neck. All the while he chewed at her neck in sensuous bites, sending shivers of heat and excitement down through her body. Suddenly he jerked her forehead forward until it was touching his collarbone and he whispered, “I’m sorry…I can’t help myself.”

Then he lowered his head to her neck and kissed her there. She felt his tongue lick at her and a wild thrill washed through her. He held her tighter, practically strangling her, and she loved every minute of it. She went limp in his hands as he first stroked the back of her neck and then fastened his mouth to the top vertebra where her spine met her neck.

He opened his mouth wide and sank his teeth into her skin until they were caught around that bone.

She gasped at the shocking pain of it. She jerked in his hold trying to free herself, but then, suddenly, all of the strength seemed to bleed out of her body.

The sensations that followed would have been hard for her to describe. Her entire spine lit with jolts of electricity, as if all the signals being sent out from her spinal cord were suddenly halted and thrown in reverse. All that electric sensation made her extremities go numb and weak, and he had to hold her up with all of his significant strength. Then it felt as though that electricity were leaving her body, all of it exiting at the spot where his mouth was affixed to her spine. Occasionally she felt the flick of his tongue, as if he were licking up the very last drops of an amazing delicacy.

Then he disengaged his mouth from her and all of her weight dropped down. She was truly nerveless now, unable to coordinate. He had taken her strength. He met her dazed gaze with his and as she stared into the strange darkness of his eyes she felt herself sinking deeper into some kind of strange spell.

“You won’t remember any of this except the kisses,” he said softly.

“I want to remember all of it,” she argued numbly.

“All but the bite,” he pressed.

“All but the bite,” she echoed, all of her will taken by his hold over her mind.

“Tomorrow you’ll not notice the marks on your neck, but you’ll wear your hair down to cover them.”

“I will,” she said numbly.

“Good girl.”

He bent with her against him to retrieve her purse, then scooped her up into his arms and opened the door of her brownstone.

“Which apartment is yours?” he asked her.

“Top floor,” she mumbled thickly, hardly able to coordinate her tongue in her mouth to speak.

How he got in the outer door, up the stairs, and then through the door to her apartment, she did not know. She didn’t recall him taking her keys. Then again, she was barely aware of her surroundings and she was feeling incredibly sleepy. Once they were inside her apartment he carried her into her bedroom and laid her on her bed. He then stripped her of her outer garments, until she was in nothing but her T-shirt and boyshorts. She let him do it all without even a sound of protest. She didn’t even have the energy to blush.

Her gun he put on the bedside table.

When he was done he slid her between the covers of her bed and laid her head down on her pillow with the gentlest of care. She looked into his hypnotic dark eyes as he sat beside her on the bed. He lifted one of her limp hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm.

“Tell me,” he coaxed her, “what have you found out about the attack this morning?”

“Attack?” she asked dumbly.

“The man who was bitten on the back of the neck on Park Avenue.”

“Oh. We don’t know anything yet. We’re waiting for the coroner’s report. All we know is the witness thinks it was a vampire.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think it’s a lot of hooey.”

“Hooey?” He chuckled. “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that word before but I get the gist of its meaning. Why do you not believe in vampires?”

“Because…oh. Wait. Is that what you are?”

“Yes, but you won’t remember that. You’ll just remember a kiss.”

“A smokin’ hot kiss,” she corrected with a sigh.

“Mmm, indeed it was. I will not forget it.”

“Neither will I,” she murmured.

“I will allow you to remember it. But only that. Everything after that, including this line of questioning, you will forget. I thank you for what you have given me tonight, beautiful. I hope to see you again quite soon. You are most…intriguing. Good night.”