19. Jasmine

"Oh, yeah?" Jasmine rose to her knees, wrapped her arms around Edgar"s neck, and leaned into him. "I need an immediate demonstration of this method of yours." She pressed her lips to his.

He took over the kiss, wrapping his arms around her, and pulled her closer against his body. In a show of impressive strength, he pushed up to a stand and carried her to the bed.

"I have two variations," he said as he tumbled with her on the mattress. "One is slow and the other fast. You choose."

"Fast." She reached for his shirt and tugged it over his head. "We don"t have much time." Her hands roamed over the contours of his chest, marveling at the ripple of muscle beneath his skin.

He grinned with a pair of elongated fangs. "That was the right answer."

Her clothes had somehow survived his attack, but she wouldn"t have minded if he had torn them to shreds. Something inside of her was unleashed, and she felt feral with desire.

His eyes began to glow with that otherworldly light she had come to expect, and as he hovered over her, his elongated fangs gleamed in the dimness of the room.

Jasmine felt a thrill of excitement race through her, an anticipation for a repeat of the marvelous things he had done to her with those fangs.

Edgar didn"t scare her, and she only regretted having missed out on those parts of immortal lovemaking when he had still needed to hide his true nature from her.

She reached up to his face, her fingers brushing lightly over the razor-sharp points of his fangs. Edgar shuddered at her touch, his eyes fluttering closed momentarily as he savored the sensation.

"I love seeing you like this," Jasmine murmured, her voice low and thick with desire. "The real you, no holds barred."

Edgar"s eyes snapped open, the glow intensifying as he gazed down at her. "Oh, sweetheart. The holds are barred. You can"t take what I can dish out. Not as a human."

"Try me," she challenged.

He shook his head, his hungry gaze softening. "I will never risk hurting you." He lowered his body over hers and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as he kissed her gently. "You mean so much to me."

"Oh, Ed." Jasmine lifted her hands to cup his cheeks. "You mean so much to me, too." She kissed him, careful of his sharp fangs.

The word love had been on her tongue, but she"d refrained from saying it because it would have been a lie.

She liked Edgar a lot, but did she love him?

It was too early to tell, and she was in no rush. They had weeks or even months to explore their feelings for one another.

Dipping his head, he flicked his tongue over first one nipple and then the other. "I love your breasts." He ran his hand over the side of one swell and down the dip of her waist. "I love everything about you, Jasmine. You are femininity personified."

Was he trying to tell her that he loved her?

Not likely. It was just lust, which was perfectly fine with her. She didn"t want anything more.

She ran her fingers through his short hair. "You say the nicest things."

"I mean it." He snaked his hand under the thick curtain of her hair and closed it over her nape.

Taking her lips, his tongue slipped into her mouth, and as it dueled with hers, she surrendered to the kiss.

His confidence and dominance were sexy, especially since they were tempered by his dedication to satisfying her needs and not pushing her to do anything she wasn"t comfortable with.

Edgar was a skilled, generous, and considerate lover.

Under her fingers, his muscles felt tense, but the way he touched her was gentle. His hand brushed over her breasts and belly and then hovered over her center.

"The scent of your desire is like a siren call I can"t resist." He kissed her again while his fingers dipped between her wet folds, teasing, caressing, and when he worked two into her, she groaned into his mouth.

She needed him inside of her, which meant it was time for a condom.

As if reading her mind, Edgar stretched his arm out to reach for the drawer in the nightstand where they had put the condoms and fished out a packet.

He handed it to her. "Put it on me."

"Yes, sir." She tore it with her teeth, removed the rubber, and sheathed him.

As he entered her, they both groaned and then he was moving, his hips retreating and surging forward in an ever-increasing tempo and power until he was ramming into her again and again and driving her up toward the edge of the cliff.

The world fell away as they lost themselves in each other, the pleasure building and cresting until it consumed them both. Jasmine cried out Edgar"s name as she shattered in his arms, waves of ecstasy crashing over her one after the other.

He followed her over the edge, releasing with a primal roar that echoed through the room, but he didn"t bite her.

They clung to each other, their sweat-slicked bodies entwined and their hearts pounding in sync.

"I"m glad that you didn"t bite me, but I also regret it," she whispered into the crook of his neck. "I love the feeling of euphoria washing over me and the trip that follows."

He lifted his head and looked at her with a smile on his handsome face. "You would have been out for hours, and we are supposed to go talk to the others and show them what you found."

"I know."

He smirked. "Don"t worry. I plan on making love to you again when we return here tonight, and then I"m going to bite you."

As a new thrill of desire rushed through her, Edgar groaned. "Don"t do this to me, woman. I won"t be able to get out of bed."

"I"m not doing anything." She moved her hands to his sculpted ass and dug her fingers in the muscle.

He was already hard again, and if they had a little more time, she could have enjoyed another round, but it would have to wait for later.