If he didn’t know better, he’d swear the woman had been after him all these months, from the time he’d made eye-contact with her in one of her university classes.
He’d been speaking on the subject of profiling violent criminals and her auburn hair and her pale beauty had been a beacon in a class of five hundred, drawing his attention back to her again and again. But Charlotte had no guile, which was something he loved about her. She didn’t play games. She was forthright, said what she meant and meant what she said. He respected the hell out of her and maybe that was what had gotten him worked up to a fever pitch, why he’d broken his vow to keep women out of his private Maris Sol domicile, and why his mating frequency throbbed deep within.
He tried to calm down the demanding vibrations, but having his mating vibration on fire like this felt damn good and had him hard as a rock. So, he just let things flow.
“Willem,” she whispered, her hands stroking up and down his arms through his leather jacket. She squeezed his muscles and he flexed for her, showing off his strength. He felt as though every cell in his body reached for this young woman. But why did a full-blooded human have the ability to arouse his mating vibration?
From that first talk in her class, he’d been watching her for months, attracted to her like night to his vampire soul. He’d even put together a file on her. Working for the Grochaire Realm Investigative Unit, he had a dozen ways to build a profile and he’d used those talents to get to know the woman long before he invited her out to the club tonight.
She had ambition even though her life so far had been tragic. Her birth family had been no picnic. Her dad had been an abusive drunk and one too many beers while out boating had led to the deaths of both parents and a younger brother. Charlotte had made other plans that summer day, leaving her orphaned. Since she’d been sixteen, she’d lived on her own for eight years now.
So, yeah, he respected her.
He just hadn’t thought that the first time he actually took her out on a date would lead to holding her in his arms beneath a sky full of stars.
He continued to kiss up and down her throat, the sweet smell of her blood thick in his nostrils. All mastyr vampires suffered as he did, with chronic abdominal pain and cramping, the apparent balancing force for the power each accrued with a rise to mastyr status. He’d used a doneuse before he’d taken Charlotte out because he didn’t want to be desperate, but damn, he wanted to drink from her, to taste what he could smell, to find out if her wisteria scent also flavored the elixir of her veins.
He’d never smelled blood like hers before.
And this would be a virgin strike. She’d never donated to a vampire before. She’d already told him she was willing, but what right did he have to take this human’s blood, to be with this human, someone he just met? No right at all.
Old feelings of unworthiness surfaced, like the jagged edge of a rock.
He should stop right now, take her home, then call one of the women he’d used for years, who happily donated to relieve his mastyr suffering.
Yet, he couldn’t seem to help himself. Charlotte was what he wanted, what he seemed to need desperately right now. But he had to make sure she wasn’t feeling pressured. “We don’t have to do this, any of it.” He rubbed his hands up and down her back while he spoke. “I need you to know that. There’s no obligation here.” If he took her blood, sex would follow. He desired her fiercely and he wanted to be buried inside her when he took from her vein.
Even the thought of it made him nuzzle against her cheek. He repressed a groan.
She lifted her face to his, the scent of her desire perfuming the air. Yet he felt her concern as well, probably questioning that she should even be here. And Goddess knew he wouldn’t blame her if she shut everything down and told him to take her home.
“The wind has whipped up my hair.”
Though it wasn’t an answer, he nodded. “Yes, it has.” She had beautiful auburn hair, layered in soft curls and now moving with the ocean breeze. Her skin looked like cream poured from a cold pitcher. Her softly arched brows framed her features. She was so beautiful. Something in his chest ached as he looked at her.
“I’d love to see your house, Willem. Why don’t we go inside?”
Okay, that was an answer and this time a faint moan left his throat.
He stared into glittering brown eyes, wondering if the woman had bewitched him. Although right now, he didn’t care if she had.
He held out an arm, the standard vampire invitation to hop on board. She stepped onto his right booted foot, settling herself against him as he slid his arm tight around her waist, her satchel over her shoulder.
Once secured, he rose easily into the air, straight up to the bluff then forward onto the paved, front walk. Shrubs framed the house, none of them taller than three feet to obscure the ocean view.
Setting her on her feet, he led her to the front door. For reasons he couldn’t explain, that also added to the mysterious feel of the date, he felt he needed to make his confession. “I don’t usually bring my dates here.”
Nearing the threshold, she turned toward him, her brows high on her forehead. “You don’t? Why not?”
He wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “I don’t know. It generally doesn’t quite feel right.”
“But it feels right now?”
“As strange as it seems, it does.” Then it came to him: His entire experience with Charlotte, from first seeing her a few months ago in her classroom until this moment felt laden with a true realm quality, something fated.
And that’s why he’d brought her here.
He opened the door, letting her cross the threshold first and once he closed out the off-shore breeze, she combed her hair with her fingers, settling it down.