Chapter 137
It was four a.m. when Katelina called her mother. She left a message that said she and Jorick would visit the following evening, then she barricaded herself in the bathroom and took a long hot shower. When she finished, she stared in the mirror and tried to imagine what her mother would say about her appearance. Though drinking the blood from Kateesha's heart had healed her injuries, it hadn't done anything for the scars. All but two were in places her mother wouldn't be able to see. One of them was a lumpy scar on her left collarbone where Jorick's original mark had been before Nirel and Adam gouged it out, and the other was the new mark, directly across from it on her right. It was a set of bite marks with a cross cut underneath it, so it didn't look like it could have occurred naturally. That was the point, of course, but it would make it hard to explain if her mother noticed it.
Determined to rehearse a lie for it, Katelina dressed in her too girly pajamas and headed back into the bedroom. Jorick lay on the bed in nothing but his trousers, his eyes on the television. She dropped next to him and, though she tried to focus on the sitcom, the smooth planes of his naked chest called her attention.
He noticed her sideways glance and stretched languidly. "Something on your mind?"
She wanted to tease him back. She wanted to be smooth and clever and sexy, but she couldn't think of anything to say, so she fumbled her attention back towards the TV. "What are you watching - Oh!"
He tackled her and pinned her to the bed. The weight of his hard body pressed her down into the mattress. His face was inches from hers, and his dark eyes burned with an intensity that took away both her breath and coherent thought. "You don't really care about that, do you?"
"Uh, no?"
His laughter was rich and warm. It wrapped around her like a blanket, then faded away. "A little less certain than I'd hoped, but it will do." He nipped playfully at her ear, his breath hot against her neck. "We should have done this the last time we were here."
He traced her ear with his tongue and she swallowed down the argument that they hadn't really known one another back then. Somehow, it wasn't important. "Maybe."
His hot tongue trailed from her neck to her collar bone, pausing over the scar of her new mark. "You're certainly a woman who knows her own mind."
She slipped her arms around him and ran her hands over his well-muscled back. His skin was smooth and she had the sudden desire to taste it. "Yeah," she agreed absently. "Sure."
His lips traced around her collar, then he suddenly leaned back and tugged her pajama top over her head. She was barely free from it when he rolled to the side and took her with him, so that they lay face to face. She squealed in surprise, but the sound was lost as he crushed her mouth with a searing kiss. She moaned softly and parted her lips to give him better access. His tongue slipped inside and swept around; tangy and coppery, like a penny.
He ran his hand from her shoulder to her hip, and back up, stopping to cup her breast. His long, pale fingers teased the heavy mound and traced circles around her taut nipple. She moaned again, this time a deeper sound, and arched her body against him, grinding her hips into his thigh.
"That sounds more decisive." He broke away to nibble her neck then dropped his mouth to her breasts. She wrapped one leg around him, and ran her hand up his back and side. The desire to lick him resurged in her, and she suddenly pulled away. Confusion clouded his face, but she pressed her palm into the center of his chest and rolled him over onto his back.
She straddled him and lowered her lips to his broad chest. Her tongue flicked out experimentally, like tasting a forbidden sweet. He shuddered softly and she took her time teasing him. She traced ever widening circles over him, stopping to pluck gently at his nipples with her teeth before she moved lower. She looped around his belly button, then traced the thin line of hair that disappeared beneath his pants.
Her eyes flashed wickedly as she unfastened his trousers. He sucked in a tight breath as she reached inside and freed his erect manhood from its constraints. She glanced up to his face, but his eyes were closed, so she leaned close and stroked the swollen head with her tongue. He made a deep low noise in his throat, and she wrapped her lips around him, sucking as he moaned loudly. She moved her mouth up and down, enjoying the sounds he made as he throbbed against her tongue. He stirred beneath her, restless, but she held him down, her palms on the flat of his lower abdomen. His back arched and she knew that if he were a human, he'd be almost to the point of climax. But he wasn't human and it took more. For a vampire, it was all about the mental connection when they drank their partner's blood; the physical aspect was something he did for her.
He suddenly gripped her upper arms and rolled her over. His eyes blazed, and his lips drew back from his teeth. He grabbed her and bent her head back, exposing the line of her neck. She felt the sharp points of his fangs brush her skin, but he stopped himself and pressed his face into the hollow of her shoulder, his breathing hard and ragged.
She lay still and wondered if she should comment. "Is he planning to do something or what?" Just when she decided to take matters into her own hands again, he pulled back and jerked his trousers the rest of the way off. Wordlessly, he stripped her of both pajama pants and panties. Then he came back and nudged himself between her legs. She gasped as he pressed into the soft heat between her thighs, and she opened her legs wider to accommodate him. He paused again and she urged him on, needing him, wanting him, desperate for more. He apparently understood as he found her center easily and buried himself inside her, filling her. She cried out and pulled him to her. He thrust hard and fast and she lifted her hips to meet him, falling into rhythm with his need.
"Katelina," he growled her name into her tumbled hair. She whimpered softly at the sound and gripped his powerful shoulders with her splayed fingers. His strokes grew harder and faster, and she arched up into him as the heavy, tight feeling started in her lower abdomen, promising the forthcoming release.
His hot breath warmed her neck, and his lips moved down the line of her throat until they hovered over her mark. His tongue traced it, tasted it, teasing himself. Then, with reckless abandon, he sank his teeth into her. She cried out as the moment of pain melted into a kaleidoscope of pleasures; pleasures only a vampire's bite could give - and only if they wanted it to. She could feel him all around her, pulsating and hot. He was inside her body, inside her mind, surrounding her and owning her as no man ever had before, and she surrendered to him on waves of passion.
Their bodies moved together, but she was only partially aware of the rhythm. The hot, desperate longing in her loins was replaced by something else; that desire to taste him again. It wasn't just his skin she wanted to taste it was-
All rational thought fled and she was nothing but aching, desperate instincts. Instincts that clutched and clawed at his back and drew him closer until she got her lips around his muscular shoulder. She ground her teeth into his skin and tasted the salty flavor of his blood. It wasn't just salty; it was more, so much more. Like drinking from Kateesha. Hot. Heady. Intoxicating. Never enough.
And then the world exploded and her body shook and spasmed as she cried out. Jorick released her and the world rushed back. She found herself gasping for breath, covered in a fine sheen of sweat and only semiconscious of the last several minutes and the mysterious taste in her mouth. It was always like that with him. Once he bit her and made the connection, the world disappeared. It was the ultimate thrill; like being drunk, high, and hypnotized at the same time.
Jorick slid off of her and lay beside her on his back. He threw his arm over his eyes and she watched as his chest heaved with his breaths. It was funny to think he didn't need them and yet, there they were, just the same.
He felt her scrutiny and lowered his arm with a smile. Wordlessly, he caught her up and pulled her to him. She laid her head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heart beating. The steady rhythm was somehow comforting and she closed her eyes. He absently stroked her hair back from her face and murmured softly, "I love you, Katelina."
Without thinking she answered back, "I love you too."
There was a moment of silence and then he asked with a false seriousness, "Even if your mother doesn't?"
She didn't bother to answer him.
