CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

T he sun was close to rising when Ben stepped inside the apartment.

“I’ll grab a room near the airport then fly out when the jet arrives,” Oliver said at the door. They did the man hug goodbye thing, and then he felt Anna step up behind him and lean into his back.

“Bye, Oli. It was nice to meet you.”

“Look after each other, okay,” Oli replied, winking at her.

Him and his damn winks.

Oliver grinned at Ben, but when it faded, they shared a look that only two friends as close as they were would understand.

Ben nodded and closed the door.

He turned and looked into the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen. She didn’t say anything. Simply waited.

“We didn’t get him,” Ben said, his heart tearing apart at letting her down. He watched as fear flooded Anna’s face. “Hey. It doesn’t mean we won’t; it just means it will take a little bit more time. My team is intercepting him as we speak.”

He needed to stop talking. All of this Anna could repeat to the royal family when she returned after he left. If he left.

He had to leave.

Fuck.

“That’s okay. Thanks for trying,” she replied, giving him a little smile, and God, he wanted to punch himself.

He never failed.

Ever.

Yet now he’d failed the one person on this planet he really didn’t want to.

Anna wrapped her arms around herself. “Will you tell me who he is?”

Ben shook his head. “No. It wouldn’t be safe for you to know.”

Anna nodded. She turned and walked into the living area. “So, you going home now?”

He removed his jacket and threw it on the kitchen counter. It amazed him how much she had things figured out, even though he’d told her very little.

“Yes.” Ben stepped up behind her, placing his hands on her hips. He leaned in and kissed her neck. She tilted her head, and a little noise escaped her. “But not today.”

Anna turned and wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, thank God.”

He tightened his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. And not tomorrow either. He didn’t say it, but he knew he couldn’t leave yet. Somehow, he had to make things right. With her, with the Moretti’s, with Ari.

He had an idea, which could either go very right or very fucking wrong.

But it was a risk he was willing to take.

ANNA WRAPPED HER LEGS around Ben when he picked her up and carried her through the apartment. Though they were clinging to each other, thick with emotion, there was a sexual need threatening to dominate them.

When she lifted her head from Ben’s neck and heard him turn the shower on, she knew the latter had won.

He placed her on the counter and brushed her hair off her face. His lips lowered to hers as he gripped her neck and kissed her harshly.

Then her clothes were off and so were his.

Ben took her hand, and they stepped under the flowing water. They stood, kissing and touching and running their hands over each other for a long while, just exploring every inch of their bodies.

The way Ben’s blue eyes were blazing at her made Anna think she would implode with need.

Their tongues lapped at each other, and they couldn’t look away. Unsaid words nearly escaped them.

“Ben,” Anna started, and he shook his head.

“Let me just do this, Anna. I need every inch of you, and to believe just for today you are mine,” he said, his thumb running over her hard nipple. “Just this damn once.”

Her throat hitched as her core tightened. Was it possible to cry and orgasm at the same time? She never had, but felt she was about to find out.

His hand slid between her thighs, quickly finding her core and working her moisture out of her. Anna glanced down and took Ben’s hard, impressive cock in her hand and began to stroke him.

He threw his head back and moaned, yes, Anna, yes.

When his fingers slid inside her, she tightened around him, and his eyes met hers. “You need me right now, baby?”

“Yes,” she purred.

Strong arms surrounded her body as he lifted her and pressed her against the wall of the shower before he thrust into her. They both cried out loudly.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Ben cried. “You feel so damn incredible.”

Anna said some words, but she wasn’t sure they were translatable. A bunch of mmms and arghhs as she tossed back her head, and then to the left and right.

“I don’t know how long I can last,” Ben told her, lifting his head. “I...”—she saw him eye her neck—“I...fuck.”

Would he?

She wanted him to. She had never wanted anyone to do this before. It was a highly intimate act one usually only did with their mate.

Anna panted as their eyes held, his rich with questions even though he looked like he was losing the battle.

“Please...” Before the word completely left her lips, Ben’s mouth was on her vein, his fangs ripping her flesh.

“Oh my Goddddd!” she cried. “Ben!” Pleasure on a whole other scale rushed through her body as her pussy clenched around his cock.

Ben drank from her neck for less than thirty seconds before coming inside her and roaring her name. When his head dropped, Anna watched him lick her blood from his teeth as they retracted, then his lips.

“Jesus,” Ben let out, dropping her to her feet. His hand ran over her neck before he leaned in to lick it, the saliva helping to seal the wound.

Anna clung to him, not trusting her legs, as he began to wash her.

“Do you usually do that during sex?” She had to ask. Some vampires did, but it was uncommon.

Ben stared at her intensely. “Never.”

She nodded.

“Never, Anna. Fucking never.” He pulled her into him. “Have you?”

She shook her head.

“No. Only just, you know, playing around when I was younger. But never like that. Not sexually,” she admitted.

Ben’s eyes flared at her.

“What?” she asked, leaning back.

“Nothing. I shouldn’t have asked,” he replied. “Let’s get you out and dry.”

What did she say wrong?

Did Ben not like that someone else had bitten her? That was insane. Anna didn’t know a vampire alive who was a bite virgin, a name she’d just made up on the spot because It. Wasn’t. A. Thing! Vampires bit each other for many reasons, including healing. Fact.

She frowned and got dressed into a little nightie, sitting to wait on the bed. After Ben had banged around in the apartment for ten or more minutes, he finally came back into the bedroom and ran a hand down his face.

Anna arched a brow at him.

“Sorry. I’m a lunatic,” he apologized, pulling the covers back on his side of the bed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. When I hear of someone touching you, I lose my mind.”

She smiled at him.

“What’s so funny?”

We can telepath now.

Yes, gorgeous. We can.

BEN WAS QUITE AWARE that’s what they could do now. Aside from the fact he hadn’t been able to stop himself, the benefits of being able to communicate with Anna telepathically had rushed through his mind when he’d been arguing with himself in those microseconds.

If for any reason they were separated, he would more easily be able to find her if they could telepath. While there were some distance restrictions, if she was in Rome or surrounding cities, he’d be able to reach her.

Unless someone put a P-Muter on her. But why would they?

At least that was the reason he’d given himself for sinking into her delicious skin. God, her blood was like liquid gold.

There was nothing wrong with biting during sexual intercourse; it was just something only mates or those in deeper relationships did. It was more intimate, and while it didn’t bond two vampires, it certainly made them closer.

Ben had already wanted to lock Anna in a damn princess tower. Now, there was a whole new level of insanity going on inside his head.

Which was a problem.

He couldn’t protect her and undertake his new little plan at the same time, which left him with only one choice. One he wasn’t sure he could do but was sure would make him incredibly unpopular with a lot of vampires.