Lure of Forever (16 page)

Lucas waited. His whole body ached
as his muscles tensed, waiting for her reaction. He couldn't force her to
agree. If she didn't want him with her, he would have to leave come sunrise.
His insides twisted into painful knots, thinking of her on her own in that big
old house. She was too damn important to him to risk losing. He couldn't save
Melisande
, but he could damn well protect
Coralie
, even if he had to move heaven and earth to ensure
she was protected. He shut his eyes, trying to block out the vivid memories
assaulting him again.

The feather-light touch on his lips
surprised him and his fangs ran out fully. He tasted blood and
Coralie
gasped into his mouth. His eyes flew open as her
scent soothed his frayed nerves, and he forced his fangs to retract. Her
tentative smile reached deep into his old soul, like a ray of sunshine breaking
through the gloom of a cave.

"I have a cellar. It's damp and
cold but there are no windows. Will that do?" She smiled and warmth
infused his whole being. "I'd hate for you to sleep down there, but it
will keep you out of the light, and I really don't want to be on my own."

"It will do just fine,
Chere
."

****

Coralie's
hands shook so much she spilled coffee all over the kitchen counter.
 
The distant sounds of Lucas rearranging the
cellar below reached her through the stone floor. She couldn't believe he was
actually going to sleep in that damp, dirty cellar. She had expected him to
take her back to Carmen's, but instead he'd put her in his car and it had taken
her a while to realize they were not traveling back to the terrifying compound.
Relief had chased the chills dancing down her spine away for a second, until he
ground his teeth together so hard, she'd heard the crunch over the noise of the
engine.

He'd been so tense and closed off,
and seemed so
alone,
she had to reach out to him. His
insistence on staying with her had turned her silly heart into an excited
rabbit, hopping around in her chest. Whatever pain Lucas carried around with
him had shown on his face and in his tensely coiled muscles, and
Coralie’s
concern for him had taken away the terror she’d
felt ever since he'd made that statement about demon pregnancies.

God,
Suz
—angelic little
Suz
.
She couldn’t be half-demon, she just couldn't. It would kill Jerry if she ever
found out.

Get a grip, girl. She already knows,
or at least suspects.

Damn it, could she get the bloody
coffee made already?
Coralie
tried to focus on the
task at hand. Lucas's large hands, suddenly placed over hers, startled her.

"Let me do that,
Chere
."

Coralie
swallowed a sob, but she hadn't counted on Lucas's heightened senses. He
abandoned the coffee and pulled her closer into his muscular chest. Caged
between him and the countertop, the steady, slow beat of his heart under her
ear,
Coralie
breathed in his unique scent. Murmured
French endearments reached her ears as, safely ensconced in his
arms,
she finally allowed the tears to fall. Lucas simply
held her. When at last the desperate sobs stopped, he tilted her head up and
dropped a kiss on her tear-stained cheek.

"Finally—I was wondering when
you would break." He produced a monogrammed handkerchief out of his jeans
pocket and
Coralie
had to smile through her tears at
the old-fashioned, starched linen. Little things like this gave him away, like
his ingrained courtesy and protective streak.

"I'm sorry. I got you all wet,
Lucas." She looked up at him and the emotion in his eyes sent her heart
into overdrive. She noticed his eyes dart to the rapidly beating pulse point in
her neck, and was a little taken aback when his fangs ran out. The fact that he
didn't hide his reaction sent warmth spreading through her body. They had come
a long way over the last few days, and she realized with a start that she
trusted him—completely, utterly—with her life and those of her friends. She put
one hand up to run it over his fangs with the lightest of touches and his eyes
darkened. His hands went into her hair and he pulled her closer with a groan
that rumbled through her, awakening her every cell.

"You keep doing that,
mon
coeur
,
I'll have you pinned to that worktop, fucking you senseless before you draw
another breath. And that's not what you need right now."

He tried to pull away, but
Coralie
wouldn't let him. She locked her hands behind his
neck and stood on her tip-toes to kiss him. The movement rubbed her breasts
against his chest and he groaned into her mouth, as his hands wandered to her
backside and molded her body into his. Their breaths mingled and
Coralie
gasped when Lucas picked her up and sat her on the
worktop. He spread her legs wide and pulled her forward until her groin made
direct contact with his erection, straining against the fly of his jeans. He
didn't seem to be able to stop his hips thrusting into her, even as his upper
body pulled away, his biceps straining with the effort to hold her back from
him.

"
Coralie
…"

She ignored his warning growl and
pushed herself further into his groin. She moaned at the delicious friction
between her legs. His hands on her hips stopped her movements and he groaned
into her neck. His breath across her sensitive throat, coupled with the scrape
of his fangs, pitched her arousal higher.

"Please, Lucas…" Her
strained plea made him swear and his hands dug deep into her hips. She pulled
away to see his expression and her stomach flip-flopped. His nostrils flared,
his fangs fully extended, his eyes devoured her, and her body reacted with a
surge of hot moisture between her legs. He looked every inch the ruthless
vampire, hovering on the edge of his control, but it was the expression in his
eyes that excited
Coralie
. Lust, wonder,
protectiveness and so much emotion her heart skipped, before it stuttered back
to life. The realization how much she loved this man brought new tears to her
eyes.

"Please, Lucas. I don't want to
think about anything else right now."

He tilted her head up and whatever
he read in her face broke the last of his control. He crushed
Coralie's
mouth under his in a bruising kiss that left her
gasping for breath. She shuddered when he kissed his way down her neck, whilst
lifting her and removing her jeans and knickers in one lightning-fast movement.
Coralie
screeched in surprise as the cold countertop
hit her exposed pussy and Lucas
chuckled
his amusement
into the valley between her breasts. Heat suffused her at the lazy circles his
tongue drew over her fevered flesh and when he took one straining nipple into
his mouth and bit down, the sensations shooting to her clit made her squirm. He
held her still with a muttered demand she had no choice but to obey.

"That's my girl." Lucas
growled his words of approval.
Coralie
bit her lip
and locked her elbows behind her to give him better access, when he scraped his
fangs down her quivering tummy with agonizing slowness. He looked up at her
with his wickedest smile yet and
Coralie
watched in
helpless fascination as he used his thumbs to part her pussy lips. With another
growled, "Don't move," his breath blew over her swollen clitoris, and
pleasurable sensations assaulted her.
Coralie's
head
fell back and she closed her eyes. Her hips bucked off the countertop with the
first lick of Lucas's tongue. His grumbled denial, as his hands pushed her hips
back down, vibrated through her. Every slow lick of his tongue and nip of his
teeth pushed her closer to the edge. The air filled with her needy moans urging
him to not stop, to go faster, yet he kept at his maddeningly slow pace,
keeping her hovering at the edge of release.
Coralie
was going insane, every fiber of her being concentrated on the swollen nub
between her legs, screaming for her release, as she hovered between pain and
arousal.

She screamed his name when he pushed
two fingers into her vagina, her muscles contracted around them, her breaths
coming in short pants. "God, Lucas, I can't… please… I need… oh…"

Color burst from behind her closed
eyelids as his fingers fucked her mercilessly, driving her arousal higher and
higher.

"Look at me,
Chere
." The
growled command made her eyes fly open and he smiled back at her, increasing
his pace. "I want you looking at me when you come on my command. Are you
close?"

"
Yes
..yes
, oh God, yes. Lucas…
please
,
I…"

"Then come."

Those whispered words, delivered in
his to-die-for voice sent
Coralie
spiraling over the
edge. Her fingernails dug into his back, her ankles hooked behind his ass and
she screamed into his shoulder, when his cock replaced his fingers. His hands
on her backside lifting her, he drove himself deeper into her with faster and
faster thrusts that sent her over that sweet edge time and time again. She
clung onto his shoulders, consumed and filled by the desperation behind the
almost violent invasion. His mouth crushed hers and she returned his kiss, putting
all her emotions into her response as he strained to reach his own release. He
broke the kiss to look at her and she moaned at the sight of his fangs. He went
still, his eyes searching her face, his hands on her ass trembling, every line
of his big body coiled in a silent question.
Coralie
pulled the damp tendrils of hair off her neck and tilted it sideways in an
equally silent offering. She held her breath as his fangs sank in and fire
spread from her neck along her veins. Her body erupted in sensations too
intense to name and when he thrust again,
Coralie
was
lost.
She combusted with every slide of his cool penis,
buried so deep inside her.
Coralie’s
body flew
up, higher, harder, out of reach, until Lucas groaned his own release into her
neck.

Coralie
came back to reality with the withdrawal of his fangs. Lucas licked the wound,
his hands on her gentle, his breathing as heavy as hers.
Coralie
shivered in the cool kitchen air and Lucas smiled at her.

"Let's get you to bed,
Chere
."

Chapter
Seventeen

Coralie
moaned in her sleep and Lucas pulled her closer into his side.
 
The marks his fangs left on her sensitive
skin were clearly visible in the moonlight spilling into her bedroom and his
cock stirred to life once more. His chest swelled with satisfaction at the mark
of his possession. Her passionate response had blown him away and the trust she
exhibited in his bite had made his heart swell with hope. He shifted slightly
to give his aching balls a rest. She would be exhausted and not up for another
session tonight.

Coralie
followed that movement and her sleepy moan had him harden to the point of pain,
as her eyes slowly fluttered open. The softness in her brown eyes seemed to him
replaced with hunger when she noticed the way he tented the sheet covering his
hips, and he groaned out loud when she licked her lips.

"That doesn't look very
comfortable…"

His groan deepened when she pulled
the sheet off and ran her hand lightly down his cock to cup his balls.

"
Chere
…"

"
What,
Lucas?" He watched, fascinated, as she smiled up at him and leaned over to
kiss the taut skin on his lower abdomen. His cock surged upwards, the swollen
tip leaking with pre-cum and he tightened his buttocks to stop himself from
thrusting into her mouth, when her lips closed around the tip.

"Jesus,
Coralie
,
don't."

She smiled and released his cock,
only to lick the underside with one slow swipe of her talented tongue, in a
move that had his fangs springing out with an audible click.

"
Coralie
,
you don't have to…"

"
Shh
,
I want to." Her lips once again closed over his tip and she pushed his
hips down with one hand, whilst the other grabbed his shaft. Lucas pushed
himself up to his elbows to see the erotic sight of
Coralie's
head bobbing up and down on his cock.

Merde
,
she was good at this. He wasn't going to last five minutes. She took him all
the way to the back of her throat and swallowed once, twice, her eyes locking
with his. He thrust himself into her sweet mouth, her tongue curling around his
dick, her teeth scraping the sensitive skin. She nibbled and sucked, squeezed
and stroked and hummed her approval, as he grew bigger still, his body
scrambling for release. His balls grew tight and the heat built from his
scrotum up through his shaft until he exploded into her mouth with a growled
curse of completion. She milked every last drop of his explosive surrender
until he grew flaccid in her mouth and she released him with a satisfied smile.
She kissed her way back up his body, setting his skin alight where her hot lips
trailed, until he could taste himself in the kisses she rained on his lips. He
flipped her over with a growl of approval and deepened the kiss until they were
both gasping for breath and his cock was once again a hard ridge nudging her
thigh. She returned his wicked smile with one of her own and thrust her breast
into his waiting hand in silent invitation.