Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Erin sniffed in his alluring scent with a sweet sigh on her lips. Oh, he smelled good, too. Soap and man and syrup with a hint of smoke. How was his skin so hot? Focus.

“Th-three. I want to co-parent. I don't think vampires usually raise the kids, but I want in on this, too. I want the whole experience. I don’t just want to be pregnant, Julian. I want to be a mother. If we’re successful, I’ll move to Saratoga, and we’ll do this thing together.”

“What else?” Julian asked, grazing his teeth against her neck.

She couldn’t think with his teeth on her like this. Bitey vampire was going to make her come without even touching inside her panties.

“Four,” she said, forcing herself to lean back. Erin cupped his cheeks and brought his fevered gaze to hers. “You can’t be disappointed in me if it doesn’t happen, and you can’t be disappointed if the baby turns out to be a grizzly like me.”

Julian's gaze was lightening by the second to that silver that churned like storm clouds. He looked down at her lips and blinked slowly. “Anything else?”

“I’m not signing this contract. We’re ripping it up and doing this as friends, not business partners. You don’t owe me some cushy comfortable life after all is said and done. I wouldn’t feel right taking your money past what you want to help out with the baby. Deal?”

Julian dragged his attention back to her eyes and angled his head thoughtfully. “No contract?”

Erin grabbed a knife from the crystal butter dish and cut a slit across her palm, then turned his hand over and did the same to his. While hers dripped red and filled the air with the scent of iron, Julian's cut healed instantly, only offering a small line of blood no bigger than a papercut.

His voice was hollow when he murmured, “I don’t bleed much.”

Offering her hand for a shake, she said, “No matter. It’s enough. Shake to seal the deal.”

He pressed his palm against hers and that same shocking pain she’d felt last night when she’d touched him for the first time zinged up her nerve endings.

“Ouch,” she yelped, yanking her hand back. She looked at the stinging cut and gasped as it glowed orange from the inside and healed instantly. Her skin had never tried healing that fast, she was more hard skinned and stronger than Jake but she not that efficient. “What the hell?” she asked on a shocked breath.

Erin frowned at her hand as he rubbed his own. He said something so softly, even with her impeccable hearing, she almost missed it. She could’ve sworn it sounded like, “Dangerous Erin.”

With a sharp inhalation of breath, he drew her knuckles to his lips and let his mouth linger against her skin. “I accept your negotiations. We can start trying whenever you like.”

“Hmm,” she hummed as she leaned forward and kissed his throat. “I’ll have to check my schedule, but I might be able to pencil you in now.”

“Now?” he asked as he angled his head back and gave her more access to nibble at his neck. His shoulders shook curiously, as if she’d given him chills.

“Unless you want to enjoy your pancakes first.”

Julian dropped his chin to his chest and smiled at the plates of food, and for a moment, she thought he was going to choose breakfast over her. But then he turned just enough that his lips pressed onto hers. His mouth moved against hers easily, like water. She tasted sweet syrup as he pushed his tongue gently past the parted seam of her lips.

A soft moan escaped as she wrapped her arms around his neck and melted against him. Gently, he pulled her to the edge of her stool and harder against his long erection. Holy moly, she was being kissed! This wasn’t the passionless pecks from her past boyfriends, the empty goodnight kisses she’d had when she’d tried her hand at dating. This was passion and fire burning her up from the middle outward. This was limbs going numb and hearts pounding against each other. This was falling for a man with a touch. Her stomach dipped like she was on a rollercoaster, and she opened her eyes in a rush just to make sure they weren’t floating.

Julian eased back and pressed his forehead against hers. His breath shook, and he closed his eyes, hiding the brilliant color from her.

“No, no, Mr. Vampire,” she whispered, cupping his cheeks. “Don’t hide yourself from me.”

Julian's nostrils flared, and his chest rose and fell with his quick, panting breath. “It’s been a while.”

“Since what?”

She thought he would say since he’d had sex with a woman, but he shocked her into stillness when he said, “It’s been a while since I let anyone in.”

Erin's lip trembled, so she bit hard to steady it. “I won’t hurt you.” And for some reason she couldn’t fathom, that was the easiest oath she’d ever made. Julian was fierce and strong. Deadly. But as he lifted those uncertain silver eyes to hers, the ones with the long pupil that contracted as he focused on her face, it was clear that Julian guarded his heart as the dragons of legend had guarded castles and helpless maidens.

She wanted in. Wanted to be close to him more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life. It felt significant and necessary. Whoever she’d been yesterday didn’t matter anymore, because when she was around Julian, she felt bigger. She felt important again after losing her self-worth somewhere along the way. Without words, just by looking at her with that vulnerability churning in his mercury-colored eyes, he was offering her a little sliver of his cold heart that he’d warmed just for her. And that ounce of trust he was offering bound her to him. The threads of her soul reached out, desperate to embrace his as he leaned forward again and sipped her lips. The urgency had dimmed from his kiss and been replaced with a timid, silent question. Am I worthy?

Her heart was swelling, filling her chest cavity until it was hard to breathe. She ran her fingertips gently through his hair as she angled her head and parted her lips for him. Julian brushed his tongue against hers, and she released a long, shaky sigh, expelling her nervousness completely. She trusted him. It made no sense that she trusted a man like Julian so quickly, but for unexplainable reasons, and more to do with instinct, she did. He was good—not the monster she’d thought. The cold mask he wore was a façade to protect himself from letting people in, but it slipped away around her.

Julian leaned forward and hooked his arm under the backs of her knees, then picked her up. He carried her as a groom carried a bride over the threshold. His gait was easy and unhurried, and he rested his cheek against her hairline as he took her out of the kitchen and down a hallway lit only by an occasional chandelier. There were no windows to allow in natural sunlight, and the farther he walked, the darker and colder it became.

He hadn’t shaved this morning, and the short scruff on his jaw scratched against her forehead as he took a right down another hallway, this one even darker than the last. Here the walls were illuminated by old-fashioned candle lanterns that lifted the hairs on the back of her neck with familiarity.

“Are you taking me to your lair?” she asked quietly, as if the volume of her voice would ruin the magic of this moment.

“I am, fair maiden. Do you oppose?”

She smiled at his formal words with their edge of teasing. Perhaps others didn’t understand Julian's subtle humor, but she did. She smiled up at him and shook her head. “Nae, savage warlock. Take me to your lair with haste, for I oppose you not.”

The glow of the candle lanterns threw shadows across his face, making his eyes look stark in contrast. She should be scared with him looking so fierce and otherworldly, but all she could think right now was how strikingly handsome he was.

She brushed her fingertip across his cheek, just under the blazing color. His long pupils contracted and dilated between lanterns, and she smiled proudly at him. “My vampire,” she murmured.

“Not even bedded yet and already possessive.” His lips lifted at the corners and gave her a brief view of those dimples she was beginning to breathe for.

Julian angled his body and pushed against a towering, ancient wooden door. Inside, he set her on her feet and eased back by inches, inhuman eyes intent on her.

It was dark in here, and she had to wait for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she was stunned. She stepped forward into the cavernous room. It was enormous and carved into the cliff. Behind a huge bed was nothing but a dark, dripping, jagged rock face. Two sides of the room seemed to be made of black-out panels that had been lowered to block out the sunlight. He didn’t move to open them though, and it struck her that he cared what she thought of his lair the way it was. Cold with a constant drip drip sound coming from the far wall. For how big the room was, there was very little furniture, and the floor under her bare feet was made of cobblestone.

“I know it’s not as warm as a bear’s den. It’s probably unnaturally uncomfortable to you,” Julian said low, his eyes still trained on her.

She stared at him, not talking.

***