DeLeina, Maya - Veil of Seduction [Ambrose Heights Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (44 page)

“If it’s your blood in this wine, will you taste just as good? I mean, there are dark chocolate undertones in this that I’ve never quite tasted before.”

“So chocolate is your catalyst. Love, I will taste much better. So much that you will be tempted to drink me dry. But I’ll trust in your ability to control yourself.”

“But you tasted like copper that night in the park, when you cut your finger. Why will it taste different now?”

“The wine has gone through an aging process that extracts the sweetness of my blood to fit the human palate. My blood, in the purest form right now, won’t have any flavor for you to pick up on. Tonight, we will be at the right time, when our blood has had time to mix from the rituals and has developed a unique taste palatable for just the two of us. I’m guessing that drinking directly from my veins will be like drinking from one of those chocolate fountains. ”

“Really?” Anya shook her head. “Steffan, if that is the case, help me if I can’t help myself so I don’t hurt you.”

“I’ll help you through every part of it.”

“So, I get the taste, but what it will
feel
like when I drink? Can you describe it?”

“I don’t know what to compare it to in a human form. I can’t recall anything quite like the sensation. But when Rhys turned Brynne, she mentioned that it felt like she had licked the ends of a battery, where the energy would pass right through her. It was like sending a tingling sensation and amplifying the taste of something you already have a strong appetite for all at once. Does that help?”

“Yeah. I get what she saying about the sensation with the battery. I’ve done that when I was younger,” Anya said as she chucked. “And the taste of me, what is it like for you?”

“Like dark chocolate laced with cinnamon. It seems as if we both have a strong affinity for chocolate.”

Steffan put down the sponge and began to massage Anya’s neck and shoulders. “Anya, I have one regret in claiming you as my mate.” Steffan paused as he drew closer to her ear. “Children.”

Anya nodded as she held her wine, letting the bottom of the glass balance on her knees that barely surfaced from the water. “Michelle and I talked about it, too. It’s like I told her, nothing has changed for me even as I face the finality of the issue. The clock never started ticking for me like other women. I don’t know why. I’ll admit, I held on to the possibility, thinking my cutoff point was forty. Even if I never intended to explore the option, it just always felt like something I had to hold on to, because I was a woman, because of society’s expectations. Instead of feeling like a plan that I was going to fulfill, with each passing year, it felt more like a looming deadline, a countdown to when I would have to face reality and admit it as a conscious choice rather than a vision that never came to fruition.”

“So, you will be able to accept that we will never have the ability to produce children? I look at you, and my thoughts drift, wondering what it would be like to watch your belly swell with my child growing inside. For me, it’s wishful thinking. But, I’ve had years to accept that I will never know what it is like to be a father and to have the love of a child. I just want to make sure this is something you’ve given some consideration to. ”

Anya put down her glass and turned around in the tub to face Steffan.

“You are the only man to have ever stirred a remote thought in that area for me. But it doesn’t mean I’m giving up anything just to be with you. It was something I already came to terms with as a conscious decision before you even came along. Besides, what kind of life would this be for a child? I couldn’t bear to watch my own child die of disease or old age, nor could I bear the thought of a turning and freezing their existence in an adolescent stage.”

“I see you’ve given this much thought.”

Anya nodded.

“I want you to know something. Eilian and I are exploring the possibilities of reproduction for our kind.”

“What? Impossible!”

“Once upon a time, a vampire could not walk in the sun or consume food. Now look at us. Nothing is ever impossible.” Steffan paused and shook his head. “But this project has hit so many roadblocks in just the ethics alone. We don’t want children to be children forever. We have to discover a way to manipulate any remaining human cells we retain after turning for growth. Then the questions come into play. What age do you stop the aging process? What is the perfect age to attain for immortality?”

“Good questions. I never thought about all of that. I’m just floored. I can’t believe you and Eilian are doing this.” Anya’s face lit up with excitement.

Steffan sighed. “Anya, we are so far from figuring any of this out. And as a vampire, when I say this will take a long time, I mean a long, long time. This I why I want to make sure you’ve thought long and hard about this before we do anything that can’t be reversed.”

Anya lifted her hand to gently brush Steffan’s face. “I am sure. I’ve come to terms with it and I have no doubts about my choice.”

Steffan reached for Anya and pulled her onto him, straddling his lap. “And this is your choice? I am the man you want to be with, irrevocably?”

“Oh god, yes!” Anya moved her hips slowly over Steffan’s swollen shaft under the water. “Help me remember once it’s complete. Promise me you won’t let me forget anything.”

“Your heart is pure, Anya, you’ll remember everything you cherished,” Steffan reassured her.

“Please. I’m scared of losing me. Promise me, don’t let me forget.”

Steffan fisted his hands in her wet hair and leaned her forehead against his. “I promise you, you will not forget. I will help you remember everything.”

Anya kissed Steffan, her tongue wild in taking his mouth. “I’m feeling uncontrollable, Steffan,” she whispered during her releases from his mouth. “My heart feels like it’s going to jump right from my chest.”

“Anya,” Steffan said, entranced with Anya’s kisses and focused on the movement of her hips, submerged in a rhythm that released a wild need to be loved.

“Yes?”

“Your body is telling you it’s time.” Steffan lifted her from the tub and set her feet on the black tile floor.

From the looks of the floor, she expected to be met with an immediate chill. But she stood there, wiggling her toes against the heated sensation below her feet. “Heated tiles. Nice”

Steffan smiled and stepped out of the tub. Water dripping from his chiseled muscles was a delicious sight. He reached for a towel, wrapping Anya in the thickness of the cotton, drying her naked body.

Anya reached for a towel and patted Steffan’s skin dry in response.

Steffan lifted Anya from the warmth of the tiles into the heat of his embrace. “Anya DeVera, can I claim you, make you mine? Make you Mrs. Anya Matthews?”

“Yes. Claim me!”

Steffan cradled Anya in his arms, his naked body maneuvering them to the bed. Their eyes remained transfixed on each other. He placed one knee on the bed and gently laid Anya’s body on the velvety rose petals. He opened her legs wide and situated himself at her glistening sweetness on display for him. Tucking a rose petal between his fingers, he traced every intimate line and shape with the velvety petal. Up and down, side to side he moved. He was imaginative and unpredictable—sometimes using just the edge of the petal to trace lightly on her skin, other times pressing the velvety petal firmly against her. He even captured the petal in his teeth, affording him an up close and personal view of her trembling body. The velvet sensation on her sensitive flesh shot a fiery craving throughout her body.

“Oh my god!” Anya’s airy whisper echoed in the room.

The petal fell back into place, diving back into the pool on the bed as his tongue eagerly took its place, tracing each curve and fold. His masculine hands splayed across her chest, massaging her luscious breasts in each hand. Anya whimpered below him, throwing her head back and creating a prominent arch with her body. Watching Anya’s body contort in the throes of passion sparked vigor in Steffan, and his tongue delved deeper inside her, taking in her essence.

* * * *

Steffan reached for another open bottle of wine that sat on the nightstand.

“Anya, drink. I want enough in you to ease any pain.”

Anya propped her body up on her elbows as Steffan kneeled between her legs. He held the bottle to her lips and tipped it upward, cradling the back of her head.

She drank, her black hair cascading down the length of her bare, sensual back. A stream of the dark-red wine escaped Anya’s lips, trickling down her chin and settling in between her breasts. She gasped as the wine flowed down to her neck and chest.

She looked up at Steffan.

A deep-seated craving burned in his eyes as he drenched her in his tantalizing elixir. He placed the bottle on the nightstand and dipped his head, lapping up the rivulets from her body. He pulled Anya up to a sitting position as his tongue made one last sweep over her clavicle.

“Drink more, my love.”

Steffan reached for the bottle and poured the wine down his body. His thumb methodically positioned over the opening of the bottle to direct the flow. The wine flowed down his shoulders, cascading off of the prominent curve of his chest, and pooled into Anya’s mouth below. Anya swallowed and then filled her mouth with his cock. Steffan held on to a piece of the canopy material with his free hand to steady himself, her sudden taking of his body was wild.

Anya gazed into Steffan’s eyes as she slowly took in his entire length. His velvety tip nudged the back of her throat and she squinted as she swallowed against him, guiding him further down her throat.

Steffan moaned at the erotic performance. Anya’s eyes were watery but solid in her lustful gaze upon him. She released his shaft, tracing his thickness with her tongue and outlining his pulsing veins.

Steffan poured the wine again, this time controlling the pour just above his navel. The streams ran down the contours of his rippled abdomen muscles, down to his groin. Anya slurped up the wine that dripped from his erect shaft and moved her way up. Dark-red splashes speckled Anya’s face. She moved in a snakelike motion, slithering up from his navel to his chest, soaking up the remnants of wine with her tongue that still clung to his flesh. Steffan cradled her chin and licked the wine from her face. On his last swipe, her tongue caught his, entwining recklessly.

The wine bottle thudded against the floor as Steffan lost his grip on it in the midst of his rapture. He motioned Anya down to the pillows, to lie on her side. He positioned himself behind her, fitting closely against her, spooning her form. Steffan raised her leg and propped it up around his thighs. Anya gently bent forward at the hips to accept his entry. Slowly, Steffan slid himself through her moistened folds, both of them releasing moans of pure ecstasy. He hugged Anya tightly around her neck, plunging his full length into her. She looked behind to capture Steffan’s gaze. He seized her lips, and they settled into the decadent kiss. Their lovemaking was sensual and intimate, each being fulfilled beyond words, riding the waves of utter pleasure.

“You feel so good inside of me,” Anya whispered as Steffan’s forehead lay against her check.

She panted erotically. Her body reveled in pure ecstasy. Her lips were swollen, flushed in a deep shade of pink. She bit down on them, longing to feel the play of Steffan’s teeth biting her sensually once again. Everything she felt coursing through her body—pleasure, happiness, contentment, and security—was all of his doing. She responded to him in a way that no man ever could elicit. A burning desire shot through her, a craving that went far beyond the flesh.

She ached to breathe his breath as his eternal mate.

An overload of emotion and stimulation congregated at the moment, and Anya began to cry. “No man made me has ever made me this way. Take me, spread me open. Fill me.”

“No man will ever have you the way I have you, Anya. I’m going to make you feel all of my love.”

Steffan released his hold on Anya and repositioned himself. He kneeled, straddling her left leg. Anya curled her right leg around him. Steffan leaned forward and gripped her shoulders as he penetrated her deeply.