THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

“You know they didn’t.”
    He smiled.
    How do we do this, Del? How can I be in your mind and you in mine?
    The blood-bond. While non-vampires can develop this talent to some extent, it takes a lifetime of dedication and discipline. You don’t just develop it overnight, as you appear to have done.
    Ainsley turned her hand within his grasp so she could caress his palm, and was rewarded with a fresh blaze of desire straight from his mind to hers. She closed her eyes against the intensity of it, and when she opened them again, he was watching her face with a thrilling, dark hunger.
    She swallowed. “Earlier, in your bed, after we… Well, you told me that if you were to take my blood and we were to make love again, I would feel what you felt and you would feel what I felt.”
    His soft chuckle fanned her face. “It would seem we arrived there by another route.”
    “This is the oneness of mind you share with non-vampires?”
    Only fleetingly. Only while we are physically joined in the sex act. He tipped her chin up with a forefinger under her chin. This … this, my love, is unique.
    He bent and caught her lips with his.
    With no thought except getting closer, she clasped a hand behind his head and returned his kiss, even as she climbed onto him. Straddling his lap, she slid her free hand under his lab coat to touch him through the Oxford cloth shirt he wore.
    And oh, mercy, this desire … so sweet, she could die of it. It filled her, flooded every nerve ending, burst forth from her pores, spilled from her mind. Urgent, aching, and incredibly sweet.
    “Yes, my love.” His lips left hers and his hand urged her chin up. Without hesitation, she bared her throat for the hot exploration of his mouth.
    Oh, Jesus, I want your teeth right there. I want to feel the burning pierce of them.
    His own excitement leapt fiercely, but she felt him force it down with ruthless control. We can’t.
    “I know.” She clutched his shoulders, trembling violently, trying to master her own clamoring desires. “I know.”
    “But we can do everything else.” With dizzying speed, he rolled her onto the bed, coming down to cover her torso with his own, pinning her there with his weight and strength.
    Pulse thundering, she pulled back a few millimeters to make sure she was reading him right. “You’re kidding? What about all those good reasons we talked about?”
    He pulled away slightly, fumbled in the pocket of his lab coat and produced a box, which he held up for her examination.
    “Condoms?”
    “Courtesy of Eli.”
    “But condoms ? If it’s that simple, why didn’t we think of it before?”
    “We weren’t blood-bonded before.”
    She heard the echo behind the words: We had a choice before. Her happiness dimmed a few watts. A man of reason and science, did he begrudge the hijacking of his higher brain by this mystical bond?
    He took her hand and drew it down to press against his erection, which currently tented the fine wool of his trousers. “Does this feel like I begrudge our bond?”
    She laughed, and his mouth caught hers.
    Okay , she thought. Okay .

 
    Chapter 20
     
    DELANO CAUGHT the laugh as it left her mouth, taking the joy straight into him. He was drunk on her. Her fragrant hair, the rising musk of her arousal, the soft silk of her skin, and yes, the slide of his thoughts against hers. It was the most erotic thing he’d ever known.
    He lifted his head. “Listen to me, Ainsley. You mustn’t let me take your blood.”
    She smiled up at him. “We talked about this. I trust you, Del.”
    He let the reins of control slip the merest bit, just enough so she could feel the breadth and scope of the blood hunger.
    “Oh. Oh! ”
    She tried to struggle up, but he held her there until she subsided on the mattress again.
    “Why didn’t you tell me you were fasting? My God, Delano, I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me that you wouldn’t know your own blood type.”
    He pushed the blood-lust back down. “It didn’t seem important to mention until now.”
    “Not important? What are you going to do for sustenance?”
    “I can go without blood for a couple of days with minimal impact.”
    “Really?”
    “Really. It certainly didn’t cause that scene out there with Eli. At worst, I get a little … how do you say? Bitchy. The other was caused by … well, you know.”
    “I know.”
    She traced his mouth with a delicate finger, and it was all he could do to keep from drawing it into his