Vampires Need Not...Apply? (34 page)

“Help her!” Antonio looked at Maggie, Kinich, Chaam, and the soldiers. No one stepped forward. “What the fuck is wrong with you people? Help her!”

Kinich’s face filled with torment. “Antonio, we cannot touch her, only you can. You can help her.”

Caray!

“Listen,” Kinich added, “we need to leave here now. I sense the Maaskab are near, and as Chaam pointed out, we do not want a fight on our hands. It’s not the right time.”

Antonio stared down at Ixtab’s immobile face, his heart torn in half. “I can’t lose her,” he whispered.

“And you won’t. But now is the time to be strong, vampire.” He felt Kinich’s firm grasp on his shoulder. “We must go.”

Antonio slipped his arms beneath her body, instantly feeling the darkness slither through his skin and making its way into his veins.
Hmmm. Tastes kind of… nutty?

Ixtab snuggled against the masculine warmth at her side and savored the sensation of being completely enveloped in a sweet male scent. She nuzzled her face against the source of the heat. Gods, it felt like heaven—smooth and firm. All man…

Cue Marvin Gaye song now. Sexual healing, I want… sexual healing… la-la-la-la…

“Ummm…” she groaned, never wanting to leave this dreamy place filled with luscious, sensual energy.

She felt a warm hand run down her back and pull her closer into the soothing heat, which she now realized ran the length of her body.

“Umm…” she groaned again.
Best dream ever.

Upgrading now: “Unchained Melody”…

Sigh.

How about, “Bump Uglies”?

Yeah, The Krabbers rock. Ukuleles are magical.

“You like that, do you?” a deep male voice whispered in her ear. Her mind began to slip out of the foggy paradise. But she didn’t want to leave it. Everything felt so good.

“
Mahalo
… Yes. I like it,” she mumbled, not bothering to open her eyes. “More.”

The hand slid from her back to her backside. A firm hardness pushed into her belly. Her naked belly.
And a naked hardness?

Ixtab opened her eyes slowly.

“I’m glad to hear you say ‘more,’ because more is exactly what I had in mind.” Antonio’s green eyes and hungry smile greeted her.

Yes, best dream ever…

She blinked and stared at his stunningly handsome face—thick, dark lashes; straight nose; well-defined cheekbones; and sultry, full lips in the shape of a heart. And though there was an exquisite perfection to him, his black stubble and strong features made his appearance fiercely masculine. Then there was her favorite part…
that deep olive skin against his green eyes.

“You’re breathtaking, you know that?” she said and lifted her hand to his face.

“Nowhere near as breathtaking as you,” he said.

“How would you know? You’ve never really seen me,” she replied to the dreamy vision of Antonio.

He smiled. “Now you’ve put me in the unfortunate position of sounding like an appalling pervert because I’ve done nothing but look at you for one week straight.” He kissed her lips softly. “Every.” He kissed her lips again. “Single.” Another kiss. “Inch.”

“Really?” she asked, unable to keep from panting gently while her body worked itself into a quiet, sizzling frenzy.

“Oh yes. Well, almost every inch.” This time he kissed her with an urgency that sent the blood rushing between her legs. His heated tongue slipped inside and massaged hers with his own. She’d never been kissed so deeply, as if he were making love to her lips. “There is one place I didn’t go. Saving the best for last, I suppose.”

His hand slid underneath the silky sheets, over one breast, down her body. His head then disappeared and she felt him tugging at the only garment she wore.
Panties?

“Oh!” The soft touch of his fingers ran over her sensitive bud. “Ohhh!” His warm and silky mouth came next.

“Oh my gods.” There was no preamble, shyness, or modesty with this male, but why would there be? He was just the sort of male who was used to taking control in the bedroom and well versed in the art of pleasuring a woman.

Lucky, lucky me!

His warm, smooth tongue glided over her with a languid, sensual pace—the pace of a man who clearly savored the task. She felt a little scrape of his teeth and her body snapped to.
Wait.
She looked straight up at the ceiling, realizing suddenly that this wasn’t a dream. This was the room she stayed in at Kinich’s estate.

She sat up and threw back the covers. Antonio’s adorable face was nestled between her thighs. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

He flashed a devilish smile. “What does it look like?”

Licking me like a naughty Tootsie Pop?
“No. I mean, why are we naked in bed together?” And… oh, gods, had she really just stopped that delicious man from doing that delicious thing to her body? How stupid was she?

He shrugged his brows, his grin widening. “One of your sister’s ideas.” He crawled up and hovered over her body, his face directly above hers, his thick-muscled arms flexing and straining as he held his weight off of her. “She recommended more skin contact to help extract the dark energy from you faster.” He lowered his hips enough to allow his erection to press against her tingling, pulsing entrance. “I think being naked in bed with you for a week was far more draining on me than you. Although now that I’ve been fed so well, I think I might recover.”

Yes. What
would
he do with all that energy? And hadn’t she been about to say something very important?

He dipped his head and kissed her forcefully.

Oh! Yes! I had questions… What were they?
So many thoughts mulled around in her head like an expectant father waiting for a cigar. What had happened to Chaam? Were Guy, Niccolo, and the others set free? And how had she lived her entire existence not knowing this pleasure? The pleasure of being with someone she loved, of his mouth covering hers, the smell of him filling her nostrils, of his stiff, warm cock pressing into her.

The anticipation barreled over him. Antonio lowered his body on top of hers, placing himself firmly between Ixtab’s thighs. He began writhing, rhythmically rubbing his erection between her legs. He dipped his head to her neck and kissed. “Your breasts against my chest, the feel of your soft skin, your taste—I’ve never experienced such sinful pleasure.”

He moved his mouth back to hers and ran his hand between their bodies, positioning himself just so. “I can’t wait a moment longer,” he whispered in her ear.

She turned her face placing them nose to nose, realizing in an instant that this was it. And she couldn’t have wanted it more.

He thrust his hips sharply forward with a loud groan. His thick shaft penetrated deep inside and released that delicious tension clinging to her inner muscles. Her eyes as she took him in, exploding with shivers and heavenly waves of sensual bliss, while he pumped himself into her, hard and fast.

He lifted his chest, using one hand to hold himself up and the other to grab the nape of her neck. “Look at me, Ixtab. Open your eyes.”

And she did.

Ixtab had never felt anything more erotic than watching Antonio’s face, the fierce gaze of his eyes as he pounded his hard shaft into her, using her body to sate his savage sexual hunger, as their lights, their energies mingled and danced, their minds intertwining. Images began flooding her mind—the sensation of his cock sliding in and out of her tight passage; his large, rough hands cupping her breasts and the feel of her taught nipple on the tip of his finger. The glowing warmth of love in his heart.

They were sharing each other’s thoughts?
Yes, he is my mate. Without a doubt.

And she wanted him to know how sexy he was, how his body—those deep, rippling abs; powerful biceps and chest; the strong, thick legs—quenched a primal female thirst she’d lived with for tens of thousands of years. And how his soul filled her heart.
Gods, I love you…

Continuing his relentless rhythm, he dipped his head. “Yes. I heard that.”

Oh, gods, don’t stop, don’t stop. I’m so close…

“And that. But I forbid you to come. Not yet. Not without me.”

What?!

“But I-I-ohhh…” She couldn’t think. “I’m going to…”

Antonio pushed his large frame forward, and groaned.

Come…

He poured himself into her, and her entire body ignited with erotic tremors. She gripped his shoulders as wave after wave of intense, blinding orgasms racked her body.

And I thought ukuleles were magical… Wow.

After the moment passed, Antonio slowed to a leisurely pace, rocking his hips against her. He kissed her with his love-swollen lips, and though hers felt raw and battered, nothing felt more delicious than the taste of him on her tongue, the feel of his beard on the edge of her mouth.

“Gods, I can’t believe how sexy you are, Ixtab,” he said.

I can’t believe I just had sex. Seventy-thousand-year-old virgin no more! Yes!

“How was it?” he asked, smiling.

She shrugged. “You were okay, I suppose. But you might have to try again. Just to get it right.”

“Oh, you really shouldn’t have said that.” He flipped her over and placed his hands on her hips.

She laughed. “What are you doing?”
Gods, I hope it’s what I think…

“May I remind you that I’m part incubus and a vampire. Both were built for hard, hot sex. And we never tire.” He thrust deeply into her from behind, causing her to gasp. “And we are extremely competitive.”

Gods, you were so worth the wait…

* * *

Four hours later

Antonio pulled Ixtab close to his body and tucked the sheet under her shoulder. Hands down, that had been the best sex of his life. And in some strange way, bedding her answered questions he’d had about himself for many years. For example, he’d always known that his appetite for sex was insatiable and that his incubus blood gave him the instincts to master any woman’s body. They always walked away glowing and sated, as if they’d spent the entire day at the spa being pampered. He, on the other hand, simply felt empty. Unsatisfied. Hungry for more.

With Ixtab, however, it had been completely different. Not only did she sate his sexual thirst, but she left him in a euphoric state. Bliss. She was his bliss, mind, body, and soul. He would never get enough, not for a sense of lacking, but for a sense of pure joy.

He kissed her forehead and studied her features. Wide catlike eyes that shimmered with every shade of turquoise and green imaginable. Full, sensual lips. Deep bronzed skin. She was nothing shy of exotic—the sort of woman men would kill for, men would die for. “I love you,” he said quietly, unused to the sound of those words coming from him. In fact, apart from his brother, he couldn’t recall ever saying them to anyone else.

Ixtab gazed up at him with her wide eyes. “And I love you. Now it is time for us to talk.”

Yes. It was. But Antonio feared having this conversation because the truth may mean the end to them both.

“So, what happened?” she asked.

Antonio sat up in bed. “Maybe this should wait another day; I don’t want to ruin what little time we may have left together.” He slipped from the bed giving her a glimpse of his perfect, tanned ass and powerful back muscles.
Gods, even his butt crack is perfect.
She sighed.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To take a shower.” He padded toward the bathroom.

“Wait!”

He froze.

“What’s going on?” The negative energy spiked off the charts.

Without bothering to turn around, he asked, “Did you do it?”

“What? Did I do what?” She truly had no idea what he spoke of.

“Time travel,” he said in a quiet voice.

So that’s what this was about? Time travel?

“Well, yeah. I guess I did. But—”

“Fuck.” He dropped his head and then stormed off to the bathroom.

What the hell?

Ixtab leaped from the bed and followed him. He was already in the shower turning on the water when she entered.

“Antonio?” She slipped inside the Italian tiled stall.

He shoved his head under the extra-large showerhead and leaned into the wall.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” he said.

What was going on?
“Antonio! What?”

He spun around. “It’s prohibited, Ixtab! Prohibited. You will be punished.” He turned his face once again toward the water, but she could see the muscles flexing in his neck.

Oh. Now she understood. “Antonio, it’s okay—it’s not what you think.”

He hit the wall, cracking several tiles, and then turned and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Like hell it’s not. I just got you back, Ixtab.”

She shook her head and smiled.
Sweet, sweet, vampire.
“It’s okay, Antonio. I time traveled, yes, but when the others hear my story, I promise there will be no punishment—not for me or for Máax.” And even if they did punish her, so what? It would be banishment so she’d no longer have any powers and be forced to live in the human world for eternity. Big whoop.

“Máax?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Máax is responsible?”

Again, she nodded. “Margaret knew that Máax had used the tablet before. So when the portal wouldn’t open, she went to see him, hoping he’d tell her what went wrong—why it wouldn’t open for you. The truth was, nothing had gone wrong. I simply wasn’t there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Máax did know how to use the tablet—he was banished for using it to time travel. Anyway, he took the tablet from Kinich, opened the portal, and went back to the moment I was sucked in. He brought me straight back to the moment he’d left.”

It was a little confusing when she thought about it, but basically Máax had hopped inside the portal, grabbed Ixtab, and pulled her forward in time. So by the time Antonio tried to open the portal and make an offering in the name of love, she was no longer on the other side of the portal. The tablet didn’t react because his request of it made no sense.