To Have: Vampire Assassin League #19 by Jackie Ivie

Not even to blink. This wasn’t possible. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t prudent. Why was she rooted in place, while shivers ran her flesh? Those shivers weren’t remotely unpleasant, either. It felt like her skin had developed a rash and he was the cure. The salve. The necessary unguent.
    And she wanted more.
    Her move connected them. She slid from the chair right onto his thighs. Her arms wrapped about his neck, her fingers delved through his hair, grasping strands, so she could hold. And it was her mouth meeting his, her lips sucking at his, her tongue meshing with his. Tangling. Melding. She didn’t need to hear the moan that surged through them. It resonated through their chests, whether from his throat or hers. Or a combination.
    A prick of pain slipped through her consciousness. Had he bitten her? But before she could give the question any thought, the most incredible sensation overcame her. It came in waves, washing over her. Possessing her. Claiming her. Akin to having warmed oil poured onto her nakedness. Warm. Scented. Perfect.
    “
Eshq-e man.
”
    The word accompanied his lips as he slid them from her mouth, along her chin, to the pulse point on her throat, sending more shivers racing from wherever he touched. Evie gasped. And felt him stabbing into her neck. Liquid ecstasy erupted from the spot. Erasing this existence and then overwriting it.
    She might as well have wings. Corporeal existence dimmed to be replaced with fantasy. Desire. Dreams. She could have sworn they were flying, nearly touching the obscene height of the ceiling before descending. And through it all, the intense pleasure emitting from her neck just kept pulsing.
    They landed somewhere with a bounce. Evie’s back met softness. Luxury. And support. She’d lost her cloak
.
Her sandals. Her senses.
Wait
. She still possessed the latter. She slit an eye open to view about an acre of dark-shaded satin. And still Daron sent bliss atop bliss with whatever he was doing to her neck.
    “Where...are we?”
    Evie had to swallow to get her voice to work. It also removed the suction from her neck. And it immediately felt like loss. Physically. And emotionally. She had an insane urge to weep. She focused on the sensation of his tongue on her skin, instead. Sending impulses as he kissed. Adored. Laved. He shifted to his knees before her. The structure swayed as he tossed his robe off, chucking it somewhere behind him. He wore another one beneath the first. He shoved that from his shoulders, too. And then he yanked a long tunic shirt over his head, to send it onto the pile of clothing behind him somewhere.
    ...and
holy shit
.
    She couldn’t believe she’d had him down to a seven-point-five. With his physique, she should have started at fifteen. Prince Daron was lean. Very ripped. And absolutely fascinating. Evie knew better. She should do something. Get her condom packet.
No. Wait
. She’d left it in the harem place.
    She’d left a lot back there.
    Common sense. Reality. Rationale. Logic.
    None of that helped when she was facing...what was the foreign word he’d used? The one that didn’t need a translation?
Oh Yes
.
Pairi-daeza.
Paradise. It was exactly that. She was being hastened into a paradise that contained warmth. Sensual need. Highly addictive craving. Desire. And want. She thirsted, and he was liquid nourishment. She sought breath, and he was air. The passion-imbued aura surrounding them was reality. It even had a color. Red-hot, fading to gold. Necessary.
    She watched her own hand reach for his abs. And it was shaking.

 

CHAPTER EIGHT
    The moment her fingers connected with his belly, Daron reacted. His muscles involuntarily twitched as her fingers became her entire hand and then the other one. She didn’t understand the power she wielded. He wasn’t certain, at first, that he could absorb it. Her first touch had awakened the beast within him. This caress set it free. There wasn’t any way to contain it. She carried mystery in her