One and Only Read online

  Her eyes flickered open. She could see him a little better in the dim light that filtered into their underground sanctuary from somewhere behind her. His form was less fuzzy than it had been. She took that as a good sign as she raised one hand to touch her head.

  “The pain is gone. My head doesn’t hurt anymore and I think my vision is clearer, though I still can’t see much in this darkness. But it’s better. I feel much better. Thank you.”

  “You’re quite welcome, my dear.” She could just make out his eyelids lowering as if he was fighting fatigue.

  “Are you okay? I mean…” She tried to see his expression in the darkness. “I hope you didn’t overtax yourself. Will you be all right?”

  He brought her hand to his lips for a gentle salute. “You are sweet to think of my comfort, beautiful Lissa. It’s true that healing takes a great deal of energy, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Is there anything I can do?” She grew concerned by his quiet words, his restrained tone.

  He paused before answering. “There is something you—we—could do to strengthen us both, my dear, but I hesitate to ask.”

  “What is it?” She tried to rise on one elbow, but he moved closer again, forcing her to remain beneath him.

  “I told you I can gain strength from sexual release.” His eyes actually sparkled. She could see them twinkle in the dim light. “I can pleasure you—and myself—if you’ll allow it, and bring us both back to full strength.”

  Chapter Four

  “You want to…uh…be with me?” Her hesitation stood between them as he gazed down at her. She wanted to be sure she understood him perfectly. It would be all too easy to build impossible dreams around a man like this.

  “I want to make love to you, sweet Lissa. There is quite a difference.” He leaned in, nibbling on her bare shoulder.

  “But I’m not on anything.” Her face flushed with embarrassment. “I mean…” she was at a loss for words.

  “Never fear, sweetheart. You can’t get pregnant with me. Not unless…” He didn’t finish the thought, but she sensed wistfulness in his words.

  “What?”

  “The only way I could make you pregnant is if you were my one, true, destined mate, which is highly unlikely. I’ve searched for centuries and never found her.” Silence stretched before he continued. “You can’t catch anything from me. We don’t suffer from or carry mortal diseases. You’re safe.”

  Lissa was uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, but he didn’t let up. If anything, he moved closer.

  “I’ve pleasured many women in my years but have not sought my own pleasure in a very long time. I didn’t want to. Not until I met you.”

  “You don’t have to lie to me.” Hurt seeped into her words regardless of her desire to hide her feelings. They were too close to the surface. This incredible situation and incredible man were doing things to her emotions that she couldn’t control.

  He drew back, his face hovering above hers where she could see more of his expression. His eyes were clear, gleaming orbs in the darkness, the tight lines around his mouth showing clearly how tense and tired he was.

  “I do not lie. When we first touched, I knew there was something different about you. You drew me, Lissa, unlike any woman in many, many years. I wanted you from the moment I saw you, though I’d planned only to track you down at the hotel, cloud your mind and drink of your essence. But now that I’ve tasted you, I doubt I could’ve stopped there. Had we not been in the wreck I would still have found you and wanted to bed you. Your warmth and energy are tantalizing to me.”

  “Really?” Her voice was small, her feelings unsure, but she was fascinated by the idea of what he’d have done if they hadn’t been in a wreck. He might’ve come to her and she would have had no memory of this elegant, strong, incredible man.

  All in all, she was glad now for the wreck, if only because he hadn’t been able to cloud her mind. She wanted to remember every moment with this man, to hold against the years in the future. She was sure she would never meet another like him.

  His very existence proved to her that magic was real—not only the magic of the vampire, but the magic of him. He was everything she had ever dreamed of in a man, and never dared hope for. She knew there was no future for them, but for this one moment out of time, she could experience what it was like to be held in his arms, to be made love to the way she’d dreamed of all her life. It was worth the risk to her heart, though she suspected it would be very easy to fall in love with him. But it was a chance she was willing to take.

  Whenever he touched her, unearthly flames licked over her senses, warming her soul. Lissa didn’t understand it at all, but reveled in the feel of his hands, his quiet strength. She wanted this dark stranger. She wanted him inside her with a passion unknown to her.

  “Yes, sweet Lissa.” His voice drifted over her. “I would have ravished you in the dark, given half a chance.”

  His words ignited a frenzy of need in her body. She could no more deny him than she could deny the fire racing through her veins. She reached for him, needy, yearning.

  “Please,” she said simply, suspecting he could see every nuance of her thought process in her expression. It was obvious now that he could see much better in the dark than she. It was yet another tidbit of memory about this experience she would file away to recall later, when he was gone from her life.

  He bent, kissing the smile from her lips, inflaming her with a fever she’d never known, but had always yearned for in her dreams. His fire licked over her senses as his tongue dueled with hers. His teeth were sharp, reminding her of the way he’d bitten her and made her come, but she wasn’t frightened. Far from it.

  “Your skin is like silk, sweet Lissa,” he whispered against her skin as he moved down her body, placing nibbling kisses down across her collarbones and onto the swell of her breasts. His hands stroked lower, first circling her hips, then delving between her legs, urging her to spread them for his passage. Lissa was beyond shyness, beyond any thought of demur. This man aroused her passion unlike any other man before. She knew she was already slick and when his fingers encountered the evidence of her desire, he raised his head to stare into her eyes. He was so close, she could see the excited sparkle in his gaze, pinning her beneath him with the gentlest touch.

  “Please…” she gasped. She wasn’t sure what she was begging for exactly, but she knew he could provide it. He was the answer to all things at that moment.

  “Yes, sweet Lissa. You’re ready and I can’t wait. I have no finesse. Forgive me.” He slipped one finger into her channel. “But I need to know.” His words registered dimly as he kissed her again, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth the way she wanted him to thrust himself inside her. The lascivious thought made her squirm as that first finger was joined by another, sliding in rhythm in and out of her channel. She wanted him bad and his stroking only made the yearning worse.

  “Please!” she cried out.

  “Say yes. I need to hear it from your lips.”

  She could barely talk, let alone think. He’d driven her passion higher, faster, than she’d ever experienced. Yet, his patience was impressive. He waited, even though it had to be clear she was his for the taking. His hard cock rubbed against the skin of her thigh as he moved closer, bobbing, stroking and driving her insane. She had to have him now, but he waited for her permission.

  He removed the fingers tormenting her, moving over her so he could fit his hard length into the space made for him. She tried to move down onto him, but his strength denied her. Her frustration level rose higher and higher as she strained toward him. Finally, she could take no more.

  “Yes! Dammit, yes!” She panted against him. “Come into me now.”

  With an animalistic growl, he pushed forward, breaching the tightness of her body with a slow, firm, inward thrust.

  Even in his passion, he moved carefully, lest he hurt her. He’d felt how tight she was with his fingers. He knew she’d have trouble taking
him at first, but she’d adapt, and come to love his possession. He’d make her sing out in joy when she came around him, and he could hardly wait to bring her with him, over the edge into bliss.

  But first, he had to get fully inside. He thrust shallowly, reveling in the feel of her passage. She was tight, but her maidenhead was absent. She’d had other men before him. With a wave of dominance, he was glad she’d have something to compare him with. This way, she’d know their joining was nothing ordinary.

  No, this joining would be of epic proportions. He felt the heat rising already. Things were churning inside him in a way that was new to him and the boost to his energies coming from their joining spiked higher.

  It was even better than the best he’d ever had. Stronger, more fulfilling and hotter than hell.

  He let himself dare to hope that she might be the One. He didn’t need the final sign that would come with climax, to know it in his heart. She was his One. He could feel it in his bones as he began to thrust deeper, keeping time with her cries of passion.

  “Are you with me, sweetheart?”

  He needed her to look at him, even though she could barely make him out in the darkness of the cave. But he needed to see her sparkling eyes as his body joined fully with hers this first time.

  “I’m with you.” Her words were faint gasps of air as she climbed ever higher with him.

  “My name is Atticus,” he told her, thrusting hard and deep, fully embedding himself as if he would never leave. “Say my name, Lissa. I need to hear it on your lips.”

  She panted. “Atticus.” Her inner muscles clenched around him as she rose higher still. “Faster, Atticus. I need it harder.” Her words were heated whispers of delight and yearning.

  He complied with a groan of satisfaction, seating himself deep. He pumped hard, reaching into her mind with his to know when and how she wanted him to thrust. But her thoughts were in perfect alignment with his and he noted the ease with which he accessed her mind as yet another sign that she was his One.

  The thought brought him to a trembling precipice. She was right there with him. With a final push, he tumbled over the edge, his body spurting inside her as she screamed in ecstasy, clenching around him.

  He hadn’t come so hard in years, if ever. And she loved every minute of it. He could feel the satisfaction in her mind—a mirror of his.

  Magnificent, joyous union. At last.

  Pathways opened between their two souls, joining them together for all time. He realized with a blinding flash that he had full access to her memories now, as if they were his own. He wondered if she would have the same access to his mind. The thought gave him pause. Some of his memories were too grim to share with such a kind and gentle woman.

  She was such a bright beacon of hope in his otherwise dark world. He didn’t want to subject her to his memories, including centuries of living in a world that had been sometimes harsh, and even inhuman. He doubted she could accept the more sinister parts of his long existence.

  “Don’t think that, Atticus.” She shocked him with her words as she stroked his chest with trembling fingers. “There is no part of you that I couldn’t accept.”

  “Then you share my mind?” His heart opened in joy at the thought. He’d found her at last. Joined in mind, they were truly One.

  “How could I not? I was more than a little psychic even before the wreck. I knew there was something different about you the moment you stepped on my foot.”

  He chuckled and moved his heavy weight off her, settling at her side.

  “Psychic?” He stroked her shoulder as he contemplated the ramifications. He hadn’t realized she had any kind of extrasensory abilities, but he could read now, the way her gift had helped her in the past. His new mate was full of surprises that he would spend the rest of their years discovering.

  “It runs in my family. But I’ve never experienced anything like what just happened, or what I’m learning now, seeing inside your memories. It’s amazing. And a bit overwhelming.” Softened with awe, her voice washed over him.

  “Do you understand what you see in my memories? Do you understand that you are my One? My raison d’etre? My everything?” Anxiety filled him as he waited for her all-important reply.

  She rose to lean over him this time, stroking his bristly cheek with reassurance. “When we climaxed together, it all came to me in a blinding rush. I’ll admit, there are some things I’ll have to think through and sort out, but the most important thing is that my heart recognized you, Atticus. Not only am I your One, but you’re mine.” She leaned down to kiss his lips sweetly. “And I want you to bring me over.”

  He sucked in a breath of shock. “Are you sure?”

  If she drank his blood, she would become immortal too. They would share eternity—together.

  He’d planned to talk her into it in time. It was a big change for a human, and he hadn’t wanted to push. Now she’d broadsided him with her decision and her delighted chuckle told him as clearly as the mischievous thoughts in her mind that she enjoyed it.

  “Yes, I’m sure, Atticus. I love you.”

  The vacant place in his soul suddenly filled with her blindingly bright light.

  The most sacred quest of his long lifetime had ended, and now he could get on with living and enjoying his immortal existence with a woman he loved by his side.

  “I love you, Lissa. And I always will.”

  She lightened his heart as he pulled her over him. With a sharp thrust, he brought them together once more, both ready for more. Sharing minds made all aspects of life better, they discovered as his cock drove home where it belonged, right up inside her, as far as nature allowed. She squirmed in delight. Her body knew his. It recognized its other half.

  It was a slow joining, a lazy thrust and return that they both wanted to draw out.

  “When you make me a vampire, will I have to suck other people’s blood?” She didn’t sound too thrilled with the idea, and he easily read the aversion to touching other men in her mind, which pleased him greatly.

  “Now that we are One, you need only drink my blood. Our love and our blood will sustain us both now.”

  “So no more biting the necks of women you don’t know?”

  He grinned as he brought her higher with a deep thrust. “No, love. Just you. And I’ll bite,” he pulled her down so her heavy breasts were inches away from his mouth, “only you. All of you. From here to forever.” He reached up with his tongue and licked her nipples, pulling each deep into his mouth in turn, as she moaned above him.

  She began to ride him, her breath hissing out as her pleasure rose, and he reveled in the wicked thoughts in her mind. His girl liked it a little kinky, it seemed. They would have centuries together—Lady willing—to explore all their shared desires. Atticus liked the wicked thoughts in her mind that marched so well with his own tastes. That they were compatible in this way was only more proof that she had been made just for him.

  “You’re a naughty girl, aren’t you?” He liked the way Lissa gasped, her skin heating. He knew she was both embarrassed and enthralled by the idea of playing sexy games with him. “Answer me, sweetheart.” A tinge of dominance filled his tone and he felt her clench around him. No doubt about it. She liked it.

  “Yes, Atticus. I’ve been bad.”

  “Very bad,” he agreed with a satisfied smile. They were definitely both on the same page. “Now what do we do with bad girls?” He let the words draw out as he slowed his upward thrusts, holding her on a knife’s edge of pleasure. She moaned and he sensed words were beyond her at this point. “Do you want to feel the force of my hand on this pretty ass, sweetheart? Is that what you want? Do you want a spanking?”

  Her eyes closed as she clenched and threw her head back. “Yes!”

  That’s all he needed to hear. Atticus swatted her ass and urged her to ride him faster. She began to whimper and moan on every deep thrust and every hard spank. Atticus tongued her nipples then grazed his fangs over the soft flesh on the side o
f one full breast, drawing just a bit of blood that he greedily lapped up.

  She loved it. He read the exciting flash of sexy pain that thrilled her, and the resulting pleasure as he stroked his tongue over her soft skin in her chaotic thoughts. He smacked her ass then moved one hand around to search out her little clit. Unerringly, he grasped the tiny button, squeezing hard and making her come with a delicious shout that echoed through the dark cavern.

  He followed her into madness as he shot his seed deep inside his mate.

  His One and only.

  Chapter Five

  By nightfall, they were both back to full strength, though Lissa knew she would bear some black and blue bruises from the accident for the next few days. Atticus had discussed their next move with her and they’d decided to leave some evidence of her adventure for the human authorities to see. They would, no doubt, have been searching for her since the wreck that had claimed so many lives. Luckily, no one but the driver had known Atticus was on the shuttle bus, since his decision to go up to the resort had been a last minute thing.

  As a result, they decided to placate the authorities with a story that made some sense, though it was admittedly sketchy. They arrived at Atticus’s home just after sunset. To say it was a mansion was an understatement. The European-styled villa was set in the midst of a picturesque vineyard and both the house and manicured landscape took her breath away.

  Opening the grand door, Atticus whisked her into his arms and carried her over the threshold. It was a romantic, old world gesture that brought tears to her eyes.

  “Welcome home, love.” He paused to kiss her, keeping her in his arms as he kicked the door shut and carried her into a spacious living room.

  The kiss grew bolder as he lowered her to a soft, wide couch. She could feel the conflict inside him. He wanted to call the authorities on one hand, to begin the process of making her completely well. On the other hand, he shared the raging desire burning in her own blood to make love here and now—to claim her without further delay.