Demon Night

right; she could feel every inch of his bare skin. Even with her attention centered on his words, she was completely conscious of the heat of his fingers between hers.
    “I hold myself tight, Charlie. A distraction means I ain’t protecting you as well as I should, or that a demon might have an opportunity to take my head.” His thumb stroked hers, sending shivers of awareness across her skin. “Sammael will try to say I’ll be feeding you out of obligation or guilt—and if you don’t know what I’ve been thinking in private moments, I reckon you might believe him, because I’ve been running hot and cold with you. You have good reason to doubt how willing I am.”
    She knew how deeply he wanted her. She’d felt it in his kiss, his hunger in the truck. But that was then , and she was unsteady enough to need it now. “What are you thinking?”
    “That for two months, most every time you’ve said my name, I imagined hearing it with you beneath me.” He spread his fingers, pinned her hands to the bed. “And now that I’ve had you call me Drifter, knowing that it put a wall between us, I don’t figure I’ll be able hear my given name from your lips without wanting you under me, or on your hands and knees while I work into you from behind, or with your legs around me and your back against a door.”
    Oh, Lord. Her calves squeezed his sides as she instinctively tried to press her thighs closed—but whether she was trying to dam the need building within her or encourage it with more pressure, she didn’t know.
    Her breathing quickened, and she’d have said his name then if his voice wasn’t pouring over her again.
    “And I’m thinking that I’ve never seen your titties naked, but I know their shape, and I know your nipples won’t ever again tighten up as they did on the deck tonight. Not from the cold, leastwise.” His palms moved rhythmically against hers, rocking her fingers against the silk coverlet. “But they will when I put my hands on them, or my mouth, or maybe just when you think of my hands and my mouth.”
    Not just tight…aching. He hadn’t touched her anywhere but her hands and with his voice, and her nipples were aching . “They are now,” she whispered hoarsely.
    His throat worked, and his response was rough. “And I would slide my hands on up over your skin to feel them, but I reckon I ain’t man enough to stop there. Because my heat would make you sweaty, now that you’re a vampire, and feeling you all wet would make me think of touching, tasting you where you’re even wetter.”
    Jesus. Charlie whimpered and rolled her hips, scooting forward against the mattress, only an inch, seeking more sensation, some kind of relief. “Ethan—”
    “Because there are some things it’s just crazy talk to say a man shouldn’t eat.” Without releasing her hands, he brought them to her knees and pushed her thighs farther apart. Raw desire abraded her nerves, left them frayed and quivering with anticipation. His amber gaze held hers, glowing with intensity. “And I’d be feasting a long time, Charlie, making you ready for me, making you wetter for me. I’m a big man, and I’d want you needing me so bad it’d hurt more for me not to be inside you than it would to take me in.”
    Charlie stared at him, unable to speak. Her breathing was too harsh, her arousal too sharp. He couldn’t mistake it; the air was heavy with her slick, heady scent.
    Ethan groaned her name and closed his eyes, laid his forehead on the mattress’s edge between her knees. He let go of her hands to slide his up the length of her thighs until they clasped her waist. She leaned forward, ran fingers through his hair, then down over his collar. The back of his jacket was coarse under her palms, his muscles as taut as a steel string.
    And he held her there, his body motionless until the electric charge between them faded to a hum, until she finally heard him draw a breath.
    He turned his head, lifted it to lay his cheek on her knee and slant a rueful look up at her. “Hell, Charlie. I don’t know that once you put your hands on me, I’ll actually make it inside you.”
    Her fangs poked her bottom lip when she grinned, but she controlled the pressure and they didn’t break skin. “I guess it’s a good thing we’ve got super-speed then.”
    His laughter rumbled against her leg. “I reckon it is.” After another long moment and a deep sigh, he sat back on his heels again, swiped his hands through his hair.