Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

NICHOLAS

N o one was more surprised when I kissed Holly. I knew she was asking me to taste the snow but, in that moment, I wanted, no, I needed to taste her more than I had ever needed anything else. Then she responded so sweetly, and it was all I could do not to take her right there in the cold, wet snow. Reason fortunately intervened, and I took a step back—only to have Holly pursue me and ask for more. Maybe I was weak, but I couldn’t imagine spending another night next to her without knowing what she felt like, how she sounded when she came, and how she tasted.

I’d probably be damned, especially since I knew I had to let her go. But I would deal with that another day. Tonight, I was going to be selfish and indulge in Holly Winter.

I carried her through the now-empty kitchen. The Birnbaums must have gone to bed while we were outside. If I had to get up as early as they did, I’d be in bed early too. Of course, having Holly in my bed would make me spend a lot longer in bed, and I intended to spend all day with her.

I strode up the stairs and down the hall to our room. Harold had brought our luggage while I was stacking the wood, placing it to the side. We wouldn’t need it tonight. The fire was crackling in the fireplace, and the bed was thoughtfully turned down. I gently tossed Holly onto the bed, and she bounced, giggling. I tore off my jacket and shirt, tossing it to the side and began unwrapping Holly like the sweetest present I’ve ever received—her hat, scarf, gloves, and bulky wool coat.

“I always wanted to know what that felt like. I read about it, but never believed anyone could actually do it?—”

Her words ended on a squeak as I covered her mouth with mine. The warmth of her lips against my cool ones sent electricity through my long-dead nerves. Even after almost a hundred years, I'd never experienced anything like kissing Holly. Each brush of her lips, each small sound she made, awakened something in me I thought had died long ago.

Her heart was racing. I could hear its rapid flutter and smell the sweet rush of her blood beneath her skin. The predator in me stirred at the sound, but for once, the bloodlust wasn't the strongest hunger I felt. I wanted more than her blood. I wanted all of her.

"Nick," she whispered against my mouth, her fingers tangling in my hair. The sound of my name on her lips made me shudder. Her skin was flushed, warming the air around us, and her scent was intoxicating. The melting snow in her hair released a fresh, clean scent that mingled with her own, creating an aroma uniquely Holly.

I took my time exploring her mouth, memorizing every sensation—the soft press of her tongue against mine, the little sighs she made when I deepened the kiss, the way her hands clutched at my shoulders when I gently caught her bottom lip between my teeth. Every moment with her was precious, every touch a gift I never thought I'd receive again and might never have after tonight.

Her deep pink sweater clung to her curves, and I helped her out of it, my fingers trailing along her sides as I did so. The silk of her skin was impossibly soft under my touch, and I marveled at the contrast between us—her warm, living flesh against my cool marble exterior. She shivered, but not from cold; I smelled the spike in her arousal, heard the catch in her breath.

I kneaded one perfect breast, the soft flesh fitting perfectly in my hand. I flicked her nipple with my thumb, and she moaned. I tweaked the peak, twisting lightly, and she gasped, her eyes flying open and meeting my gaze.

“There you are. Eyes on me, love.”

She flushed, the red spreading up her chest and neck to her face. It was adorable. I unhooked her bra and tugged the straps down and tossed it aside, leaving her bare to my gaze. She laid on the bed, watching me with a small smile on her face.

“See anything you like?”

So many things. Her breasts were perfect, tipped with pale pink nipples, tight and begging for my attention. I trailed kisses down her throat, letting my fangs graze ever so lightly against her pulse point. She gasped, arching into me, and the trust in that gesture nearly undid me. Any other human would have pulled away, would have felt fear at having a vampire's fangs so close to their throat. But not Holly. Never Holly.

“You're not afraid,” I murmured against her skin, still marveling at the fact. Her fingers tightened in my hair.

“Never of you,” she breathed. “I trust you with my life. With everything I am.”

The weight of her trust settled over me like a mantle. I had to be gentle, had to maintain control. My strength could so easily hurt her, but the way she looked at me—like I was a hero rather than monstrous—made me want to prove worthy of that trust.

I kissed my way down to her nipple and sucked it into my mouth, grazing it with my fang, since Holly seemed to like a bite of pain. She dug her fingers into my hair, gripping tightly to hold me in place. I tweaked her other nipple while I licked and sucked this one, then I switched, playing back and forth until she tossed her head, whimpering under the attention.

The sound of her pleasure was the sweetest music I'd heard in centuries—the soft moans, the whispered pleas, the way my name fell from her lips like a prayer. Her nails dug into my scalp with tiny pricks of pain, holding me where she wanted me. I nipped her lightly and lifted my head to watch her lost in the sensation.

She relaxed her hold and explored my body with equal fervor, tracing old scars and the planes of muscle with wondering fingers. The heat of her palms against my cool skin was exquisite torture. I had forgotten what touch felt like in my existence, having spent little time with women, not wanting to risk the chance of exposure or of loss, but Holly was teaching me again, warming me from the outside in.

“You're beautiful,” she whispered, her eyes dark with desire as she traced a particularly long scar that ran across my ribs. “Every mark, every scar—they're part of your story. Part of what made you who you are today.” Her words pierced something deep inside me, something I thought had calcified long ago. No one had ever looked at my scars—the visible reminders of my violent transformation—with such acceptance, such love.

I captured her hands in mine, bringing them to my lips to kiss her palms, her wrists, feeling her pulse flutter beneath my lips. “You're the beautiful one,” I told her, meaning every word.

She was life itself—warm and vibrant and so perfectly human. The firelight played across her skin, casting her in gold and shadow, and for a moment I wished I could capture this image forever: Holly, her hair spread across the pillow, looking at me with such trust and desire.

When I kissed her again, it was slower, deeper, pouring all the emotions I couldn't express into the gesture. Her hands roamed my back, tracing patterns that felt like they were being branded into my skin. Every touch, every sigh, every whispered word was precious to me. In my long existence, I had never wanted to be gentle more than I did now.

I rolled to the side and shucked my shoes and jeans, leaving me bare. I gave her a moment to absorb the sight and make a decision. She lifted her hips and wiggled, trying to pull off her jeans.

“Damn it,” she cursed, frustrated. “How did you do it so effortlessly?”

I chuckled. “Years of practice.”

She slapped me on the chest. “Never remind a woman of your other conquests while in bed with her.”

I grabbed her hand and held it over my heart so she could feel it beating. “I was no monk, but there weren’t that many, Holly. And I never felt about any of them what I feel for you.”

She met my gaze, and I saw hope in her eyes. “Really?”

I leaned forward and kissed her. “Really.”

I might condemn her if my family ever found out that I loved a human, that my mate was a human, but right now, I didn’t care. I’d find a way for us to be together or let her go before my family could find out about her. But I didn’t have to think about that tonight.

“I think I love you,” she breathed against my lips, and the words hit me like sunlight, warming me to my core. “I know what you are, what this means, and I love you anyway. All of you—the darkness and the light.”

I pulled back slightly to look into her eyes, seeing nothing but sincerity there. This remarkable human had somehow wormed her way past all my defenses, all my carefully constructed walls, and made herself at home in whatever was left of my soul. She didn't just accept what I was—she embraced it, embraced me, with a completeness that left me humbled.

“I love you too,” I whispered, the words feeling foreign yet right on my tongue. “More than I thought possible. More than I deserve. You've brought me back to life in ways I never thought possible.”

She reached up to touch my face, her thumb tracing my bottom lip. “Let me decide what you deserve,” she said softly and pulled me down to her again. And in that moment, surrounded by her warmth, her scent, her love, I felt more human than I had in two centuries.

Holly

I couldn’t believe I told Nick I loved him. I always told men that too quickly, and they hastily found ways to run as fast as their legs could carry them, usually with some money or valuables of mine in their pockets. But Nick, surprisingly, seemed to return the affection, saying the words and appearing to even mean them. Did I dare believe him?

Then he kissed me again, one of those long, slow, drugging kisses that made me sink into him and just feel. He rolled me onto my back and settled on me, his chest cool to mine, his lips never breaking from my lips. He slid his hand down my side and brushed against the top of my jeans.

“What do you say we get these off of you?” he murmured against my mouth.

I nodded, horribly embarrassed that I couldn’t even undress myself in a sexy way. I mean, he just tore off his clothes like some Magic Mike dancer, and I got tangled like a toddler who had never seen clothes before. How sexy was that?

He pulled my jeans off in one easy motion. Seriously. So simple when I couldn’t even get them over my ass. Did he rip them? If he did, I would kill him. That was my only pair of jeans.

He placed a kiss on the soft skin of my stomach, and I froze, all thoughts of ripped jeans gone from my brain. He laughed against my skin and trailed kisses along the skin, lower, until he reached the top of my granny panties. Yeah, it had been laundry day when I found the mafia guys in my apartment. All I had clean were my granny panties. How embarrassing.

Nick didn’t seem to care that I wore white cotton undies that covered literally everything from the tops of my thighs to my pouch of my stomach. He just ran a finger along the elastic and moved it down, following with light, butterfly kisses that made my stomach quiver.

I watched him with wide eyes as he inched my underwear down, then I felt a sharp pinch at my hip and heard a tearing. “Ooops. I hope you weren’t attached to that particular pair of undergarments. I seem to have damaged them.”

I scowled at him. “I’m not exactly loaded with extra clothes.”

“They were hideous. I’ll buy you a hundred more. Or, better yet, wear none.”

I rolled my eyes, though I have to admit I hated them, too. “Like we have time for shopping.”

“If you can force me to shop for music boxes and snow globes, then we can certainly find time for lingerie.”

He spread my legs and settled his broad shoulders between them so I couldn’t close them. He then gave me a wicked smile and licked me from my opening to my clit. I gasped and buried my fingers in his hair, the sensation zinging through me like lightning waking up all my nerve endings. He sucked my clit into his mouth and inserted a finger inside, curving it to hit a spot deep inside that made my muscles quiver.

I let my head drop back and simply surrendered to the sensations rolling over me, threatening to overwhelm me with pleasure, and I was more than happy to drown in them. He licked and sucked me like I was his favorite treat, and I could only gasp and moan, clenching his hair, twisting in his hold, but he wouldn’t let go far.

My orgasm caught me by surprise, the wave crashing over me and taking me under quickly. When I surfaced, Nick was over me, his hard cock fitted to my entrance.

“Are you ready for me, Holly?”

I cupped his cheek and lifted my hips, wordlessly encouraging him. He slid in, just a bit, and I moaned at the tight fit. He went deeper, slowly, carefully, until he was fully seated, the fit almost uncomfortable, bordering on the edge of pain. I shifted, and he groaned, dropping his head to my forehead.

“Stop moving, Holly. Please. Or this will be over before it’s begun.”

A laugh burst out of me, and he groaned again. “Sure, you got yours. It’s all good for you.”

I squeezed around him and moved experimentally. “I’d really like another, if you think you could get on with it.”

He lifted his head, an eyebrow arched. “Get on with it? Who have you been with?”

I smiled, having never had so much fun in bed with someone. “Clearly not the right men, since you’re the first who has given me an orgasm.”

He raised up on his arms. “Let’s go for another.”

He dragged his cock out of me, and oh my God, the feeling was intense. Then he drove back home, and I believed he could get me there easily. His thrusts were slow and sure, steady and firm, hitting every single spot inside of me, making that wave crest again. I wrapped my arms around him, my fingernails digging into his shoulders as I pleaded for him to move faster, harder.

Nick obliged, moving harder, the slap of wet flesh loud in the room. Again, my orgasm caught me off guard, and I clenched around him, screaming his name. Nick kept moving through my climax, thrusting me into a third one, following me with his own, shouting his own release.

He laid on me for a long moment after, the sweat from our bodies sealing us together. Nick pulled a sheet over us and settled next to me, pulling me to his side. I snuggled against him, my head on his shoulder. I stroked his stomach and the tight striation of muscle outlining his abdomen. I never expected to have my holiday turn into something like this. I had only prayed to stay alive. To find someone like Nick and the connection we had was completely unexpected. But where would we go from here?