“Shh.” She gripped his h*ps with firm but gentle pressure. “Please. Let me do this for you.” She looked up at him, and her heart skipped a beat at the uncertainty in his eyes.

For a long moment, they remained still, until he nodded slowly. He didn’t relax, though, tensed even harder as she unbuttoned his pants. At his sides, his hands clenched into fists, and though he rose full and thick from the opening in his jeans, she somehow felt like this was torture for him rather than pleasure.

How odd that here she was, the virgin, and yet she was having to gentle him, to ease him into this most intimate of encounters.

Her gaze dropped back down to that male part of him, and she couldn’t contain a quick, appreciative noise of admiration. Oh… my. She’d seen and touched guys before, but none had been so beautiful.

Tentatively, she dragged a finger down his shaft, following a pulsing vein that ran the dusky length to where the base flared wide. His entire body jerked, and she heard the click of teeth as he snapped them together. Feeling a little breathless, she closed her fist around him and stroked, her palm moving slowly from tip to base and back.

“I like how you feel,” she whispered, and his moan drifted down to her, a soft sound of approval that flowed over her like syrup. “You’re like satin over marble.”

She added her other hand now, using one to concentrate motion at the tip, and the other to stroke the length of his shaft. He sucked air through his teeth, but as she worked him, he relaxed, began rolling his h*ps toward her, subtle thrusts into her hands.

A milky bead formed at the tip. Mouth watering, she leaned in, but his body went two-by-four stiff, so she dropped her head to kiss his inner thigh. Slowly, she worked her way up, still stroking, still holding him with the reverence he deserved.

“Serena,” he rasped, his hands closing on her shoulders once more. “This… I don’t know…”

Before he could protest further, she took him into her mouth.

His entire body surged forward. She gripped his hips, holding him steady. He tasted rich and earthy, the dramatic, luxurious notes much like fine Black Sea salt. Cupping his heavy sac, she licked the head of him, flicking her tongue back and forth over the little slit.

“Oh… man,” he breathed, and then he held his breath when she took him so deep he scraped the back of her throat.

His shaft was thick, hot, and it pulsed when she applied simultaneous suction and tongue action. His groans accompanied deep arches of his back as he began to get into it, and she wished she’d done this sooner, could have given him more moments of pleasure to take him away from his tragic future.

But no, she couldn’t think on that. Not now. This was about him, and she wasn’t going to be sad right this second. There was time for that later.

Gently, she squeezed his sac, and he shouted with pleasure. Though she didn’t have experience with this, she knew instinctively to suck, to stroke, to lick… and she learned quickly where he was the most sensitive.

His hands came down to pet her hair, his fingers tender, his touch firm. It struck her then that she’d felt guilty about taking pleasure from him and giving none back… but as she measured his responses, listened, touched, tasted, she realized that giving pleasure was as much a gift as taking.

Nineteen

Wraith’s heart pounded so hard he was pretty sure it was going to explode. Hell, he was going to explode. He had never allowed a female go down on him. Too intimate, too dangerous, especially when most of your sex partners had teeth like needles.

But what Serena was doing was… extraordinary.

The warm, wet depths of her mouth took all of him, and though he knew she was unskilled, he couldn’t imagine anything better than this. He could feel the care in her touch, could see it in the way she watched him for every reaction.

The sight of her pink tongue slipping out to swirl around the head of his c*ck had him clenching his hands into fists.

Serena did something amazing with her teeth, and he hissed with pleasure. His c*ck pulsed, dangerously close to release. His vision grew sharp and his fangs began to descend, and he knew his eyes had gone gold. Closing them, he kicked his head back against the wall and concentrated on the slow sweeps of her tongue back and forth on the sensitive ridge of his glans and on the twisting action she’d added to each stroke of her fist from his balls to where her mouth capped the head.

Oh, yeah, he was close….

She moaned, a low purr that vibrated her lips and made him cry out. He pulled in a ragged breath and palmed the wall behind him, partly to keep himself upright and partly to keep from grabbing her head and thrusting as the last of his control slipped away.

“Serena,” he gasped. “Gods, that feels good… oh, yeah… just like that.” He panted, h*ps jerking so hard he couldn’t control it anymore. “I’m going to come… f**k.”

His orgasm blasted through him, more powerful than any he’d ever experienced. It shot up his spine and blasted fireworks in his brain. Serena kept licking and sucking and dragging her thumb along the seam between his balls, adding layers to his cl**ax and keeping it going in sharp, pulsing bursts.

Gradually he came back down to earth, his muscles twitching as they unlocked. He willed his fangs to retreat back into his gums, and as his vision and hearing came back online, he heard what sounded like panting.

Oh, shit.

“Don’t swallow,” he barked, but it was too late. Serena was still on her knees, her fingers digging into his thighs, her eyes glazed over and her face flushed. The scent of lust billowed up like a cloud from her, slamming into him and revving his libido all over again.

“Josh,” she whispered, throwing her head back in ecstasy as she ran her hands up and down his legs. “What… what’s happening?”

Shit, shit, shit. Seminus demon ejaculate was a powerful aphrodisiac. His brothers had talked endlessly about the effects, but he hadn’t paid much attention.

Now he wished he had.

Serena dragged her hand down her chest, hissing a little when her thumb brushed one breast. “This is good… so good…”

“Ah… someone must have slipped something in your drink at dinner. Just relax.” Relax. Great freaking idea, given how she was peeling out of her clothes and touching herself.

In less time than it took to leap through a Harrowgate, she was na**d and rubbing against Wraith like a Trillah demon in heat, practically purring, and all the while nipping at the skin of his shoulders and neck. He’d never let any female bite him. Ever.

But when she took his flesh between her teeth, pain popped along his nerve endings, along with a rush of pleasure so intense he wished she’d bite harder. Draw blood. Take nourishment from him so she could thrive.

Except she wasn’t a vampire, and if she were, he sure as hell wouldn’t be here with her.

“Touch me, Josh,” she said against his throat. She laid her hand over his and pushed it between their bodies, between her legs. “There… yes, oh, yes.”

Man, he felt like a virgin himself, all nervous and freaked out, and he had no idea why.

“Jesus, you’re wet,” he rasped. His fingers delved into her cream, and that was all it took. She cried out, her body undulating wildly as she crested.

“M-more,” she whispered, even before she’d come down, and he dragged his fingers up through her slit, barely skimming her swollen knot of nerves. Again she cried out, bucking and riding his hand, over and over until he lost count of her orgasms.

And then she was climbing him, so fast he barely had time to grab her butt to support her as she locked her legs around his waist.

“Make love to me.” She pinched his earlobe between her teeth and rocked her sex against his. “I want to feel you inside me.”

The slide of his shaft through her slick slit made him groan. Seminus demons could, technically, only release inside a female, but he could dip just the head of his penis inside her, being careful not to break her hymen, and then he could pull out and—

What the f**k? The point of all of this was to break her damned hymen and take the f**king charm.

Serena writhed against him, growling and nipping, irritated at not getting what her body wanted. The friction brought her off again, though, which eased her lust temporarily. Like, for a couple of seconds. But it was long enough for him to get her on her back on the bed.

She wrapped her legs around him and arched her spine, tilting her h*ps so he damned near slipped inside her.

“Hold on, baby. Just hold on.” Somehow he managed to shed his jeans, even with her clawing at him. When he mounted her once more, settling between her legs, she sighed and pulled him down on top of her.

“You feel so good.” She brushed her lips across his. “So right.”

He moved against her, loving how they fit together. “What about the consequences?” He couldn’t believe he was asking that when he should just dive inside, but for some reason, he wanted to know where her head was, that she was going to be at least a little okay with this later.

As she lay dying.

Pain stabbed him like a stake through the heart. And it had nothing to do with the poison.

“Don’t care.” Her moan rattled through him as she wrapped her hand around his c*ck and guided him to her entrance. “All that matters… is you. Being with you.” She kissed him, hard and deep.

When she let him go, they were both panting and the tip of his shaft was rubbing in her honey. One punch of his h*ps and he’d be home.

“I think… I think I love you.”

Wraith groaned. “It’s the aphrodisiac talking, Serena.”

“Shh.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “Just make love to me. Do you want that?”

“Gods, yes,” he murmured, because at this moment, he’d never wanted anything more, charm or no. “This might hurt a little.”

“It’s okay. I trust you.”

He slipped his hand beneath her to tilt her hips. Instinct guided her, had her clamping her thighs around his h*ps even tighter. The head of him started to ease inside…