Chapter Eleven

Erica trembled at Max’s revelation. She dropped her arms and stared as her anger drained away. Something inside her began to heat and suddenly she was aware of every sensation. The cool fabric of her robe rubbed against her breasts and an ache began to build between her legs. Max’s stare felt like a lead weight, holding her in place and stealing her breath. Her knees felt weak.

Max took a step toward her and she instinctively bared her neck to him. The memory of his arms around her, trapping her to his side while he drank from her, made her shudder with desire she shouldn’t have felt.

When he put his fingers on the pulse point of her neck, just above the marks he’d made, her muscles coiled and she arched against his touch.

“Do you know how much danger you put yourself in last night?” he said as he took another step. Now he was right next to her. She felt the heat of his skin and didn’t question it. He smelled like steam and male power and the almond soap she loved. His fingers closed on her neck, caressing her skin beneath the collar of her robe. “You attracted someone’s attention. Someone devious enough to drug you.”

“Who?”

“Maybe Vera. I don’t know. She may have been trying to lure you away from me. You saw Carlisle with his vampire bitch. He might have drawn me away so Vera could lead you off somewhere where I couldn’t find you. Carlisle wants you. I could smell it on him.”

“But I’m yours.…” She breathed the words without thinking. All coherent thought left her as Max dipped his head close to her neck. His teeth scraped her shoulder and she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the fear of losing control.

“Yes. You’re mine. Or at least you were supposed to be mine last night.” His fingers slid into the folds of her robe and parted it. Erica sighed as he drew a line of fire between her breasts. “When I got you home, you asked me to make love to you. Do you remember that?”

She shook her head. “I remember you standing over me.”

“I did, for a long time, wondering what to do with you. I wanted to shake you. You’ve gotten yourself in too deep already and I wanted to scare you away from this world. I thought about tearing your dress, drinking from the spot right here--” Max thrust his hand between her thighs and Erica gasped. Her body throbbed with need for him, and the feel of his fingers on her sensitive flesh was her undoing. She moaned.

“If I’d bitten you there and left you, you’d be wondering now what I did to you. I could have made you think anything I wanted. I could have left you with the memory of my cock inside you, but I didn’t because I didn’t want you to just remember it. I wanted you to feel it.”

Max brought his fingers to the nest of curls between her legs and delved inside. Erica cried out and spread her legs. He caught her around the waist and pushed her backward against the wall.

She dropped her head to one side, offering herself to him again. When he bent his head to her neck and sucked her skin into his mouth, she gasped. She shuddered against him when his teeth pierced her skin. Instinctively, she spread her legs father to allow him access anywhere he wanted to go. Their hands met between them and battled to pull the towel from around his waist.

With the last barrier between them gone, he hoisted her up and positioned his hard thighs between hers. His free hand pushed her robe from her shoulders, baring her breasts to him. He caressed her as he drank and his erection grew until the hard length teased her to distraction.

She wrapped her legs around him and he held her another few inches higher, positioning her above him. He lowered her as he thrust upward and she bit her lip at the sweet sensation as he took possession of her body.

* * * *

Max drank deeply as he entered her, then released his hold on her neck. It wasn’t about feeding anymore. He took just enough blood to fuel his desire to the breaking point. Now, with her essence inside him, he was ready to show her exactly what his world was like.

He wrapped his arms around her and carried her to the bedroom. They didn’t make it to the bed. He placed her on the floor and knelt over her, delving deeper while she moved against him.

“Open your eyes,” he commanded. “I need to see it.”

She obeyed and he kissed her, plunging his tongue deep. She still tasted like the wine and now, mixed in her scent was musk and primal fear, lust and anger. He craved it all, every emotion, every sensation. He took it all in and let it wash over her, using his ability to shape her perception so that she felt his desperate need mixed with her own. He made her feel his heart pounding under her hands as he took her, made her feel his skin grow slick with sweat as he worked her body to the breaking point.

When her inner muscles began to pulse, he slowed his thrusts. With long-practiced skill he allowed a calming sensation to wash over her, cooling her desire just enough to bring her back from the edge. Then he started again.

* * * *

Erica felt her climax nearing. She reached for it, meeting Max thrust for thrust. She locked her legs around his back and dragged her nails over his skin, drawing him deeper until she thought she would break. At the very moment the wave crested, a cool breeze seemed to stir between them and it pulled her away from the edge of the precipice.

She lay panting beneath him for a moment, lost in his blue gaze, aware of nothing but the delicious pressure of his erection inside her. He drew out slowly and she whimpered for him. He thrust in again and bent to take one aching nipple in his mouth. He sucked the hard tip and rolled it against his tongue, causing a sensation that arrowed straight to her womb.

“Don’t stop!” She begged him over and over and time and time again he brought her right to the edge, then soothed the ache just before the wave broke over her.

The pleasure became pain and the desire became a frantic battle for release. “Now! Now!” She pleaded for it but he ignored her demands and continued the exquisite torture, bringing her right to the edge once more.

“Last night,” he said between thrusts, “you asked if I was going to punish you for disobedience. The answer is yes.”

She threw her head back and laughed, but the laugh became a sob when she nearly peaked again. “Not like this,” she gasped.

“What would you have me do? Hold you down? Tie you up? Spank you?”

Anything would be preferable to denying her release. She wanted it, needed it. Erica had never begged a man for anything, but she begged Max to let her come.

“Promise me one thing, and I’ll give you what you want.”

“Anything!” She agreed without thought. All she wanted was the shuddering explosion that would free her from his thrall. She bucked against him and he stilled her with his body, holding her motionless as he kissed her into silence.

“Promise me you’ll let me handle the case from now on. My way. I won’t take you to any more bars where you could be drugged or touched by another man...or woman again. Promise me you’ll keep yourself safe and let me find your sister for you.”

Erica let out a cry of frustration. She was so close, so desperate and so completely at his mercy, she would have done anything he asked, obeyed any command he gave her. But this ....

She nodded. “I promise.”

He kissed her again and she cried as the ache ebbed once more. When he began to thrust into her again, she held her breath, waiting for the moment he’d take it all away, but this time he brought her to the edge and over. The orgasm she’d been dying for tore through her and she gasped as it rocked her body into utter oblivion.

She cried out as he came, the tremors of his body matching hers. She felt him explode inside her, a burst of liquid heat that had to be an illusion, a delicious, sensuous illusion.

When the shock waves ceased, her body trembled and she shivered in his embrace. After a moment, Max rose above her. He kissed her once more and then lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. The soft blankets felt like clouds beneath her aching limbs. She shuddered at the sensation as he drew the sheet across her body. Her nerve endings trembled as he caressed her. Every touch was like an electric shock. After a time, her inner muscles calmed and she sank into a blissful sleep as he climbed into bed next to her and wrapped himself around her.

“Erica,” he whispered as he kissed her hair and settled her head onto his chest. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Anything you want,” she mumbled as she clung to him. “Anything you want.”