Chapter 71

"If you want, they'll probably rush through their business and be back in a few hours," Dermot said. It was his turn to lean down and kiss me good evening. "I suspect they just decided we needed some time alone."
A lump formed in my throat. He was giving me the choice - to spend time with just him or to go back to being pampered by all four. It didn't take any thought for me to shake my head. "I don't mind a quiet night with just the two of us, not if you don't."
His smile was slow and heated. "I can't think of anything I'd like more."
I was already wet when he kissed me and rolled me onto my back. My legs automatically widened to cradle his erection against my core. He rubbed his tip against my labia, slipping between the slick tissue while his tongue plundered my mouth. Already mindless with need, I lifted my hips to take him inside. He was as impatient as I was. With no further preliminaries, he thrust deep and began to move. His hands slid between us to find my breasts, but his lips continued to ravage mine as he pistoned into me, hard and fast.
His pubic bone rubbed against my aching clit with every thrust, so it wasn't long before I was quaking with the onset of my climax. I tore my mouth away from Dermott's and sank my fangs into his shoulder, filling my mouth with the taste of his blood. He did the same, and the feeling of his fangs impaling my flesh at the same time as his cock sent me spinning off into an orgasm so intense I saw sparks in front of my eyes. Dermott groaned, wrenching his mouth from my skin and his cock out of my pussy. Half a second later, I felt his body tense. A hot spray of cum covered my belly and breasts. Aftershocks rippled through me as he held himself rigid above me and continued to come. One long blast eased into shorter, occasional bursts. Finally, he collapsed beside me and pulled me into his arms, making both of us a sticky mess.
Neither of us cared. I could tell that by the way he kissed me.
"That was close," he said as we lay there trying to catch our breath. "Jesus, I haven't forgotten protection in damn near two hundred years."
It had been a unique sensation, having him inside me, bare. I smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth while with one hand I absently rubbed the wet cum into my skin. "I still don't think we have anything to worry about, but thank you for worrying anyway."
"I don't think I'd mind having a family with you some day, Jess, but I'm not sure we're ready for that step just yet." When he was tired and sated, his Irish accent was thicker, and sexy as hell.
"You know, I've never actually met a vampire who got pregnant. I think it's just a myth." Not that I'd gotten close enough to many other vampires to talk about their origins or family life. I had dozens of business "friends", yet I'd always held myself aloof from everyone except Dani and Ari.
"It isn't," Dermott assured me. "You remember I mentioned my friends Sean and Esmé?"
"The ones you used to - be with?" I tried to remind myself that there was no reason to be jealous of a relationship he'd ended over a century ago.
"The same. About ten years after I parted ways with them, Esmé gave birth to a daughter. Another fifty or so years after that they had a son."
"Really? Ari will be thrilled. I know she and Jack are hoping to have a family someday." As for me, I simply found the idea unsettling - at least for now. "I guess we really should be careful."
"Aye." He laced his fingers through mine and lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. "You're a busy woman, Jessamy Maitland. D'ye think ye can find room in your life for a man, if not for a family?"
"I don't know." Part of me wanted desperately to lie to him, to tell him anything that would keep him close. "I'm not a low-maintenance kind of girl."
"No. You're not an easy one, but I'd wager you're worth the effort." It was maybe the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. "Then again, neither am I. I travel a lot and I like my own way. Still, I'd be willing to give it a go, if you'll have me."
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst from my chest. "I'd like that, Dermott. No promises but that I swear I'll do my best."
"That's enough of a promise for me." He rolled and hugged me tight. "Just the two of us, mind you. No lions - at least not for a while. I want to sort this out by ourselves."
I smiled widely. "Sounds perfect. When's the next time you'll be in Chicago?" I was already plotting out trips to London and New York.
"Hmm." He winked. "I'm thinking I might need to spend more time there. Know a good apartment for sale?"
"Even better. I know one you can stay at whenever you're in town - although I think I'll need a bigger bed."
"And you can stay with me in New York from time to time, right?"
"Right."
He sighed and snuggled down into the pillows. "Ah, Jess, this is going to be a grand adventure."
I nestled against him, my eyes closing again in contentment. "The best of my life."
Even if someday we parted, I knew that Dermott McMahon would hold a piece of my heart forever. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

End Part 3

Dedication

This one is for the members of the Untitled Writers' Group who presented the challenge by saying "A werewolf really shouldn't be able to talk to trees."