"I hate that you had to lie for me," he said, growling the words. He smoothed his hand along the silky curve of her thigh. "I should make an honest woman of you."
She caught his fingers, and held them still. "Do you really think you're up to that?"
He chuckled with dark humor. "Oh, I'm more than up to it."
Although her eyes were warm with interest, she gave him a dubious look. "You've been through a lot. Maybe we should talk about what happened. It might be a better idea for you to get some more rest."
The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his problems, especially when Gabrielle was looking so tempting in his bed. His body was recovered from its earlier trial, and his sex came easily to life. As usual, whenever he was near her. Whenever he so much as thought of her.
"You tell me if I need more rest."
Taking her hand in his, he guided her toward the hard ridge of his erection, which bulged against the zipper of his pants. She rubbed the aching bulk of his shaft, then rotated her wrist to cup him in her palm. He closed his eyes, losing himself to her touch and the warm perfume of her own arousal as she edged into his arms.
He kissed her, long and deep, a slow joining of their mouths. Lucan slipped his hands under the tee-shirt, letting his fingers travel up the silky skin of her back, then around to her ribs, and the delicious swell of her br**sts. Her ni**les pinched tight as he stroked them, little buds just begging to be suckled.
She arched into his hands, moaning. Her own fingers were working the button and fly at his waist. Unzipping his pants. Sliding in, then pulling his length into the hot palm of her hand.
"You are so dangerous," he whispered against her mouth. "I like seeing you here, in my domain. I didn't think I would. God knows, I shouldn't."
He gathered up the hem of the tee-shirt, drew it over her head, and tossed it aside so that he could gaze with open appreciation at her nude body. He swept aside her hair, and tenderly stroked the side of her neck with the backs of his knuckles.
"Am I really the first woman you've brought here?"
He smiled wryly, caressing her soft skin. "Who told you that? Savannah?"
"Is it true?"
He bent forward and took one of her rosy ni**les into his mouth. Pressed her down beneath him with the weight of his body while he quickly shucked off his pants. His fangs began to stretch out from his gums, desire swiftly burning out of control, pumping through him in hot waves.
"You're the only one," he said thickly, giving her that honesty in return for the trust she had given him hours before.
Gabrielle would be the last female he'd bring here, too.
He couldn't imagine having anyone else in his bed, now. He would never permit anyone into his heart again. Because he had to face some hard facts, here - that's what he'd done. For all his careful control and years of self-imposed solitude, he had let his emotional guard slip, and Gabrielle had filled his void like no other ever could again.
"God, you are so soft," he said, caressing her, trailing his fingers down her side and abdomen, to the delicate flare of her hip. He pressed a kiss to her lips. "So sweet."
His hand traveled lower, between her thighs, coaxing her legs apart for his questing touch.
"So wet," he murmured, plumbing her mouth with his tongue as his finger delved past her panties, into the slick folds of her cleft.
He penetrated her, just a tease at first, then deeper. She clutched at him, arching up as two more fingers entered her body, caressing the plush sheath that gripped him so fiercely. He broke their kiss and removed the lace that covered her sex. Then he inched down the length of her, pushing her legs apart and sinking down between them.
"So beautiful," he rasped, mesmerized by the flushed perfection of her. He pressed his face against her, opening her to him with his fingers, tonguing her cl*t and the wet crevices that surrounded it. He brought her to a swift cl**ax, relishing the hard tremors that rolled over her as she curled her fingers into his shoulders and cried out in release.
"God, you wreck me, woman. I can never get enough of you."
He was so fevered to be inside of her, he hardly heard her little gasp as he came back up to cover her with his body. He registered the sudden stillness of her, but it was her voice that made him freeze above her.
"Lucan... your eyes..."
Instinctively, he turned his face away from her. Too late. He knew that she had glimpsed the hungered glow of his transformed gaze. It was the same feral look she had seen in him last night - or, rather, close enough that her human eyes would have difficulty telling the difference between blood hunger and the heated intensity of desire.
"Please," she said gently. "Let me see you..."
Reluctantly, bracing himself over her on his fists, he brought his eyes back to hers. He saw the flicker of alarm but she didn't flinch from him. She looked closely, studying him.
"I won't harm you," he said, his voice raspy and thick. He let her see his fangs as he spoke, unable to conceal any of his body's reaction to her now. "This is need, Gabrielle. Desire. You do this to me. Sometimes just thinking about you - " He broke off, cursing low under his breath. "I don't want to frighten you, but I can't stop the change. Not when I want you so damned much."
"And all the other times we've been together?" she whispered, frowning. "You've hidden this from me? You always shielded your face, kept your eyes averted, when we made love before?"
"I didn't want to scare you. I didn't want you to see what I was." He scoffed. "You've seen everything anyway."
She slowly shook her head, her hands coming up to hold his face still. She looked at him deeply, taking in every part of him. Her eyes were moist, glittering, incredibly bright. Tender with affection, and all of it pouring out for him. "You are beautiful to me, Lucan. I will always want to see you. There's nothing you ever need to hide from me."