"You tell me when," he murmured, long moments later. "Or not at all. We don't have to go further yet. I'll spend the rest of the night tasting you, Kitten, I loved that. Let me show you how much."

Bones dragged his mouth purposefully lower, but I held him to keep him where he was.

"Tell me," he moaned as a twist of his hips forced a cry from me.

My heart pounded with nervousness, but there was only one answer.

"Now."

He gave me a dizzying kiss and then raised himself on his arms. The feel of hard flesh boring into mine made me gasp. Shivers broke out inside me while he thrust slowly forward, and I buried my face in his neck and trembled. He moved deeper, and a sensation of incredible fullness spread through me. When he was fully sheathed he stopped, closing his eyes briefly before looking down at me.

"All right, luv?"

It was intimate in a way I'd never experienced, staring into each other's eyes while he was inside me. I could only nod, since speech was beyond me.

He moved in me, pulling back just a little and then thrusting forward. The unexpectedness of the pleasure made my breath catch. He repeated the motion, but deeper this time. Before I regained control of my breathing, he pulled himself nearly all the way out and back in with a single arch of his hips that tore a whimper out of my throat. Sweat broke out in earnest on my body, and piercing, primal desire shot through me.

Bones reached down and flattened his palm against my back, moving lower until it cupped my hips. He pulled me closer, rubbing me against him to coincide with his movements. I quickly picked up the rhythm, and the increased contact made my head spin in excitement. That previous clenching inside me returned, winding tighter with each new stroke until my body burned with a single thought.

"More..."

It was a moan of pure demand the rational piece of my mind couldn't believe I'd spoken. He chuckled deep in his throat, almost growling, and increased his pace.

My hands, which before hadn't strayed lower than his back, moved greedily down to grip his hips. Fingers dug into the hard mounds with no care for propriety. I couldn't seem to touch enough of him or get close enough to him. Every new thrust made it more intense, and I craved the hard slicing of his body into mine like I'd craved nothing before it. Compulsively I kissed him, piercing my lower lip on his fangs and hearing him groan when he sucked the blood off.

"So sharp and sweet," he muttered thickly.

"No more...of that." My words were spaced in breathlessness.

He licked his lips, savoring the drops. "It's enough. Now you're inside me also." And he held me even closer, if that were possible.

I gasped uncontrollably as his movements grew more intense. Earlier hesitation forgotten, I thrashed underneath him, fingernails raking temporary welts down his back. My teeth sank into his shoulder, stifling a scream at the ceaseless friction, and I bit him until I tasted blood.

He yanked my head back, his tongue ravishing my mouth. "Harder?"

"God, yes," I moaned, not caring how that sounded.

Bones released his control with obvious relish. His hips ground into mine with a tempered savageness that was the most incredible pleasure ever inflicted on my body. The screams I'd held back spilled forth in rhythmic shouts that spurred him on. When I couldn't stand it any harder, he moved faster, thrusting in a manner that would have been merciless had I not reveled in it.

Somehow it reminded me of the effect of the drugs. Everything seemed to spin and lose shape except Bones. That far-off roaring was back in my ears, but it was my heart pounding that made the sound. The nerve endings in my loins shredded with anticipation. They lashed and wound together, clenching and unclenching with greater fierceness, waiting for the moment when they would snap.

At once I was disconnected and hypersensitive of my body. This panting, twisting creature on the bed couldn't be me. Yet never before had I been so aware of my skin, my every breath, and the blood rushing through my veins. Before the last stretched nerve inside me broke, Bones grasped my head and stared into my eyes. A cry wrenched out of my mouth when the dam burst and the flood of orgasm swept over me. It was stronger than the first one, deeper somehow, and left residual tingles pulsating underneath my skin.

Above me he groaned, face twisting in ecstasy as he drove into me even more rapidly with his eyes locked onto mine. I couldn't look away, seeing his control evaporate inside the green depths. He clutched me as he gave in to the passion, kissing me almost bruisingly and shuddering for several moments.

When I broke away to breathe, he shifted until we lay side by side. His arms coiled around me, keeping our bodies touching. There didn't seem to be enough oxygen in my lungs and even Bones breathed once or twice-a record, from what I'd seen before. By degrees I controlled my gasping and my heart settled into a nondangerous rhythm. He reached out and pushed the damp hair from my face, smiling before he kissed my forehead.

"And to think you actually believed something was wrong with you."

"Something is wrong with me, I can't move."

It was true. Lying next to him, my arms and legs just wouldn't respond to any of the commands I gave them. My brain had a back in five minutes sign hung on it, apparently.

He grinned and leaned over to lick the nipple closest to him, drawing lightly on it. The areola was oversensitive from his previous attentions, and a thousand tiny needles of pleasure rushed to the tip. When it crested to the very threshold of sensitivity he stopped, repeating the process with the next one.

Something caught my vision when I glanced down.

"Am I bleeding?" I asked in surprise.

It didn't quite seem like blood and my period was a week away. Still, there was a distinct pink wetness on the crease of my inner high.

He barely stopped to look. "No, luv. That's from me."

"What is-? Oh." Stupid question. He'd told me before that vampires cried pink. Guess the other fluids followed suit.

"Let me up, I'll wash off."

"I don't mind." He breathed the words into my skin. "It's mine, after all. I'll clean you up."

"Aren't you going to roll over and go to sleep?" Wasn't that what usually happened? Unless he really, really liked to cuddle afterward, things were taking a markedly serious turn as his hand moved lower, seeking my depths.

He ceased his ministrations to laugh, raising his head from my br**sts.

"Kitten"-he smiled-"I am far from sleepy." The look in his eyes sent a shiver through me. "You have no idea how many times I've fantasized about you like this. During our training, our fights, the nights I've seen you dressed up and pawed at by other men..." Bones stopped speaking to kiss me so deeply, I almost forgot what we were talking about. "And all the while seeing you look at me with fear whenever I touched you. No, I am not sleepy. Not until I've tasted every inch of your skin and made you scream over and over again."