“I rather like it,” she said.

After that they fell silent, communicating with looks, mouths and hands on skin. His mouth broke from hers to trail down her throat, his tongue dipping into the hollow at the base of it. Then that tongue traced her collarbone and he kissed her shoulder. He came back to her breast and took her nipple between his gentle teeth. He moved on quickly, trailing down her breastbone to her belly. She had a flat belly for all she claimed to be out of shape, and he followed the tautness of it to her belly button. He could smell the erotic scent of her growing stronger the closer he got to her core. She smelled of sweetness and musk and dampness. He trailed a tongue straight down through her curls and into the honeyed valley below. Taking the taste of her on his tongue was delicious. She was like sweet syrup, warm and viscous, wet from top to bottom. She was heady and bright. Dark and sultry. A contradiction all her own.

He found her clit with his tongue and danced attendance on it. All the while his hands roamed every inch of her skin, from shoulders to breasts to belly to thighs. She felt surrounded by his touch and her whole body squirmed with pleasure. His mouth on her was pure ecstasy and all she could do was let herself fall into the pleasure he was creating. All of her worries melted away. All of their differences disappeared. In that moment they weren’t vampire and human, they were purely man and woman. Renee burst into orgasm with a shout. He kept his mouth on her from the beginning of the crest to the end, until she was so raw with sensation that she threaded her hands in his hair and pulled him back away from her body.

“Please,” she panted hoarsely. “I need you inside me.”

She didn’t have to ask him twice, although part of him thought it might be enjoyable to make her do so. There was something about the way she begged him that excited him. Gave him extraordinary pleasure. Then again, everything she did gave him extraordinary pleasure. And he was determined to reciprocate.

Rafe crawled up her body, his eyes stalking her as he moved over her with the fluidity and intent of a panther. His hips worked their way between her thighs, keeping her spread open for him. She was panting for breath and he could feel the energy of her arousal rolling off her. It made him crave her in all new ways. Made him long to feed from her, this time with her complete awareness and memory of the situation. But he couldn’t do that. It was far too soon. She would hardly have the energy to move the next day. Unless…

He pushed the thought that whispered through him aside. No. That was a contemplation for another time.

Instead he focused on what he knew to be true, on what was right before him. She was positively glowing and so damn beautiful it hurt to look at her. So instead he closed his eyes and burrowed his nose against her fragrant neck and began to enter her body. But she was having none of that. She pulled his head back and said breathlessly, “Look at me. I want you to look into my eyes.”

He could only obey her. He wanted to obey her. In many ways and in many things. He surged into her just as he opened his eyes and stared down hard into the blue-hazel of hers. He felt her surround him like a tight glove and it made parts of him ache with pleasure. He had one arm bracing his weight above her, leaving his left hand free to enjoy her any way he wanted to. He traced his thumb over her bottom lip when she gasped at his invasion into her body, his fingers skied down her throat as she released a throaty moan of pleasure. His palm caressed her down her breastbone and then cupped her trembling breast. All the while he split his focus between watching himself touching her and holding her gaze so he could meet her pleasure head-on.

Renee held his gaze whenever she could. He was moving inside of her now and she just wanted to close her eyes and revel in the sensations he inspired. But at the same time she wanted to be connected with him on a soulful level as well as a physical one. It was so different than the wild heat of the elevator, and yet somehow twice as impactful. When he dropped his head to suck her nipple into his mouth she wrapped her legs around his waist and clutched him tightly to herself every time he surged forward into her. She consciously tightened around him, grasping at him with her body and her roaming hands.

He let her nipple go with a small pop of sound then surged up and caught her mouth with his. As he kissed her she began to orgasm around him, her body so tight he could barely move. But he did move, quickening his pace. He thrust deeper and harder and listened to her cry out his name as a second orgasm followed the first. Damn but she was responsive. He couldn’t begin to describe how that made him feel. The pleasure it gave him. He was drawing hard for breath, trying to control his release, wanting to sustain it for as long as he could. But it was no use. He came in a blinding rush of sensation, his head spinning and his body awash in spasms of ecstasy. He thrust into her until every drop was spilled and he could no longer maintain his position above her. He collapsed on top of her, his weight falling heavily onto her as he gasped for breath and some semblance of control. But he didn’t want to be in control just then. He wanted to stay this way. Abandoned into her. Giving everything he was to her. Listening to her as she gasped hard for every breath.

Renee wasn’t crushed by his weight in the least. In fact, if she had the strength and wherewithal to do so, she would have held him on herself even tighter. As it was her whole body was limp, her arms completely lax, a perfect lassitude washing over her from head to toe.

They lay that way for long minutes, each catching their breath, each looking into the other’s eyes. She eventually found the strength to reach up and caress the wing of one of his brows. Once she did that it was easy to begin tracing the contours of his face. His well-defined cheekbones, his long aristocratic nose, and his finely sculpted lips. His eyes that were the most beautiful stormy gray.

After a while, he sat up, pulling her with him. Leaving all of their clothes scattered to and fro, he carried her into the bedroom. He settled her down into his bed beneath the covers and kissed her lightly on each of her cheeks.

“Stay. Rest. I’ll make us something to eat.”

“Excellent,” she said with a contented sigh. “I’m positively famished.”

“And I’m a very good cook. I’ll have something for us in no time. Relax. You’ve had quite a day.”

“You can say that again. Go on. Make me something,” she said, shooing him away with her hands. “I’m hungry.”

As he stood up in all his naked glory, she realized she still had an appetite for him. He reached for a robe draped over the foot of the bed and slid into it, hiding himself away from her.