Blood Rites: (Royal Blood #3) Page 9

  “Vaughn,” I said, dropping his hand and taking a step back. “You’re really starting to frighten me.”

  Sighing, he moved forward and I edged backwards until I hit the closed door. He buried his hands into my hair, his body pressing against mine and then he kissed me. Our lips melded together and my body took over from my head, which was screaming at me to interrogate Vaughn for answers. I shivered in his grasp, the length of his body hard against my own, and when his tongue teased my skin, I opened.

  I tasted him as we kissed and what I tasted was exhilarating and frightening all at once. His body told me he was desperate and very, very hungry… Vaughn had to know the power he held over me.

  Finally, I turned my head to the side, breaking our kiss and his hands fell away, his eyes closing.

  “I need answers, Vaughn,” I whispered. “This is happening much too fast. I’m afraid…”

  He opened his eyes and nodded. “I’ll tell you everything,” he murmured. “Then you can decide.” He swallowed hard. “Whatever happens, know that I will always protect you, Lorelei.”

  I knew him well enough to understand that he was being sincere. He wasn’t the kind of man to casually throw about declarations like that.

  Pressing my palms against his chest, I moved away from the door and sat on the edge of the bed. Vaughn lingered a moment before claiming the spot next to me. He didn’t allow us to touch and I stared down at the space forlornly.

  “I’ve never had a woman in my own bed,” he began. “I’ve never let anyone come to my home and see how I live, I’ve never taken a woman to dinner at that restaurant…” He jerked a hand through his hair, messing up his perfectly styled quiff. “Lorelei, I want you. Can’t you see that I feel something for you? Something more than a bit of fucking around?”

  He was always so aloof, so calm and collected, that seeing Vaughn so strung out had me worried. He seemed desperate to tell me how he felt… What game was he playing?

  “I know it’s much too fast,” he went on, “I know you’re afraid, but I’m a man who knows what he wants. I don’t fuck around.”

  The last statement I understood completely. He'd been relentless in pursuing me, but I'd made it easy for him. I'd wanted him from the beginning, even though the thought of us together had had me flushing.

  But I wasn’t sure what the right thing to say was. Should I tell him that I felt exactly the same way, even though I felt like he was keeping a bucketload of secrets from me? Sometimes you just knew things and what I knew was that I wanted Sebastian Vaughn, darkness, game, bullshit or not. What I didn't know, was if I could put up with it.

  “Lorelei, say something,” he said, his expression full of panic.

  A smile pulled at my lips as my heart overrode my head and I raised my hand to cup his strong jaw in my palm. I ran my thumb along his stubble and his eyes closed, my skin tingling all the way down my arm.

  “You don’t need to play games with me,” I whispered and he opened his eyes to gaze at me.

  “I’m not.” He was so sincere about it.

  I smiled again.

  “Lorelei, you don’t understand.”

  “Then tell me,” I whispered.

  His expression was laced with pain and my smile began to fade. He opened his mouth and closed it again, obviously having trouble finding the right words.

  My heart began to twist. “Vaughn.”

  He sighed, his breath shaky.

  “Just let it out,” I coaxed, my voice low. “Open up the wound and let me stitch it back up.”

  His gaze met mine. “I'm a bad man, Lorelei.”

  I let my hand drop.

  “I've lied, cheated, committed crimes, ruined lives... I never cared... until you.” His blue eyes searched mine, my heart was thundering so loud I wondered if he could hear it. “I've murdered men.” I began to shake, my skin feeling clammy as the truth began to slam into me. “Can you stitch that back up?”

  I glanced away, my throat tightening. Murder? What did I know of these things? It was bad, so fucking bad. I should run as fast as I could go and find my father, call the police. Run away to daddy…

  “There’s a man…” Vaughn went on. “A very bad man… He was at the party… He saw the photographs in the paper…”

  “The phone call this morning?” I asked quietly.

  Vaughn nodded. “He threatened me.”

  I jerked backwards. They’d threatened him…by threatening my life. “Tell me it isn’t true…”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “He—”

  “I’ll protect you Lorelei. Until it’s over… Whatever it takes, consider it done.” He was getting desperate. He was trying to hold onto me with all he had. What did that mean? Did he love me?

  I thought about the past two weeks and the feelings that Vaughn had stirred up in me. Feelings that I’d never felt in my entire life. I was consumed, overwrought, obliterated and alive, all in the same breath. Had it only been days since I’d met him on the street? It felt like an eternity and my heart had already made up its mind in the limousine last night.

  He was here before me right now, laying his deepest darkest secrets at my feet, pleading for forgiveness, knowing that I had everything I needed to destroy him. He’d given me all his power and his heart. Now, the decision was up to me. My life might be in the wind, but I held his in my hands.

  I never believed it, I always thought it was the stuff of fairy tales, myth and legend, stories to give women hope that there was someone out there for them. Vaughn and I…well, it was love at first sight.

  The thought of standing beside him, of us owning one another…it had such a profound hold on me that I wasn’t sure which way was up. Criminal espionage… him and I. Could I do it?

  “Vaughn,” I began, my entire being attuned to his. “I understand why you didn’t tell me. This has happened so fast…” I drew in a deep breath, my throat aching. I felt like crying, but I wasn’t sure what the tears were for. “This is so fucked up.”

  “If they get a hold of you…” he began desperately, but I reached over and placed my fingers over his lips. What I was about to tell him might be rash, but it was the truth. I felt it everywhere. Sincerely, without a doubt.

  “I don’t care,” I murmured. Because I didn’t.

  His hand curled around my wrist, pulling mine away from his mouth. “Lorelei, you don’t understand. This isn’t a game. They will use you to get to me. They will do horrible things…”

  “You’ll protect me.”

  “I’ll do whatever it takes.” It was a vow. I heard it in his voice, I saw it in his eyes and I believed him without a single doubt.

  I shifted closer to him, so we were touching from shoulder to hip and hip to knee. “You have to promise me that when this is over, that you’ll tell me anything I want to know. If I stay with you, I have to know everything. No matter how bad. There can’t be any secrets between us. None.”

  “Anything for you,” he said with a sigh. “I still don’t understand it, I’m not sure if it’s right…”

  “Love?” I asked, resting my forehead against his.

  His gaze met mine. “Yes.”

  I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and let my gaze wander across his face, memorizing his features. “Yes,” I replied.

  I loved him. It was that simple and in time, after this threat was eliminated, he would be able to say it back.

  “I need to go home,” I said. “I need to get some things… I want to go to work.”

  Vaughn opened his mouth to complain, but I pulled away and shook my head. “I won’t let some asshole dictate my life and make me live in fear. I’ll hire a bodyguard to watch over me.”

  “Fuck that,” Vaughn said and I frowned at his vulgar mouth. “Hawkes will stay with you. I trust him with my life. I can’t trust an unknown.”

  I nodded and went to rise. “I won’t be long…”

  Vaughn pulled me back to his side and I fell onto the mattress again. “Stay with me to
night and worry about it tomorrow,” he pleaded.

  Curling my hand into his, I acquiesced. “Tomorrow, then.”

  He sighed and pulled me against him, his lips meeting mine. “You’re precious to me, Lorelei Lansford,” he murmured against my mouth. “I’ll protect you with my life.”

  And as we kissed, I found myself forgiving him for everything. People said that love was blinding, but I never realized how much until I was smack bang in the middle of an epic love affair with a billionaire with a criminal double life.

  Romeo and Juliet had nothing on Vaughn.

  Fifteen

  Lorelei

  I’d never really slept next to anyone before.

  There were the times where I’d stayed over with various boyfriends, or they’d slept the night at my place, but I’d always toss and turn all night and it wasn’t because of any naughty business going on. It never felt right having someone in my bed and yet here I was, in Vaughn’s bed for the second night running and I’d slept like a baby.

  Stretching my limbs out like a cat, I smiled, warmth spreading through my body. Turning, I took in Vaughn’s sleeping form. He was sound asleep, his expression soft and boyish, lips parted. I thought of the dark things he’d confessed to me yesterday and they did not match the man who slept next to me one iota.

  I wanted to ask him so many things. I wanted to know everything about him and then some. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to find out, if he felt remorse for the things he’d done, if he wanted to change or if this, who he was, was it. There was a point where people grew and just stopped, right? Where you became who you were meant to be and never changed again. If this was who Vaughn was for the rest of his life, did I want to give myself to him regardless?

  Sighing, I memorized his features, taking the chance to study him while he was so vulnerable. I guess I had to stick around a while and find out the answer to that bleeding question. At least until the threat against us was dealt with.

  Sliding out of bed, I tingled as I remembered the unbelievable sex we’d had right before falling asleep in a mess of limbs. Insatiable. What had he called me? Greedy. I guess I was.

  He hadn’t stirred, so I tiptoed across the bedroom and slipped into the ensuite bathroom. It was exhilarating being on my own in his house, to have a chance to see his things. How a man kept his home said a lot about him, or so said Bex. Bex, who I hadn’t thought about since Friday. How would she take all of this? How would she take Hawkes hanging around the gallery? Bloody hell, it was going to be a nightmare, that’s what. I shook my head. That was an interrogation for later.

  Vaughn’s bathroom was nice. When I said nice, I meant it looked like it was right out of the pages of a posh design magazine. The walls were all white marble with a feature, behind the shower, of black hexagonal tiles and sleek matte black tapware. A modern double basin sat below a large mirror set into the wall behind, and bright but soft lighting mingled with the early morning sunshine streaming in from the window above the bath. A woman could fall in love with this bathroom.

  My toes curled, the underfloor heating warming them up as I wandered into the large double shower. Yeah, he definitely gained points for the bathroom design.

  I turned on the taps and waited for the water to warm before stepping in. Picking up a bottle of bodywash from the inset shelf, I flipped the lid open and inhaled.

  Mmm…it smelt like Vaughn. Spicy, musky and clean…I could deal with having him on my skin all day. I squirted some into my palm and began lathering it across my breasts.

  “Here, allow me.”

  I gasped as I felt Vaughn’s hands glide over my waist and trail upwards. He pulled me back against his chest, massaging the soap into my skin, paying extra special attention to my nipples.

  I sighed, leaning into him, feeling his entire length against mine.

  “Morning,” he murmured, before licking at my neck.

  “Good morning,” I replied, raising my hands to pull his face toward mine.

  His eyes sparkled, a boyish grin on his lips. “It is.”

  “You have a nice bathroom,” I said.

  “You like it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I like you in it.” He smiled. “Naked.” His lips pressed against mine, kissing me softly at first, but as my tongue darted out to tease his, he turned me in his arms and held me tightly, clutching my body with an unbearable passion.

  I lost myself in him, our kiss deepening, our embrace tightening, the scent of his bodywash filling my senses. He edged me backward and the moment the water from the shower drenched my head, I pulled away with a squeal, laughter on my lips.

  “Vaughn!”

  “Such a fucking beautiful sound,” he murmured, trailing his fingertips across my cheek. “You’re beautiful when you smile.” His expression began to change and I wondered what he was thinking. There were a lot of things I should be worried about, but wet hair was not on the list.

  My smile faded, and for a moment, I had forgotten the trouble he’d landed me in. For a split second, it had just been us and it had felt wonderful, carefree…two fools in love.

  As if he sensed my mood was souring, he pressed his lips against mine again, his hands cupping my ass. I felt his hardness against my lower belly and moved against him, my tongue twining with his.

  Everything was so fucked up. I’d changed so much in such a short amount of time, it was alarming. Was it for the better, or was it taking me down a dark path without any safe return? Did I even want to come back? Straight-laced and demure Lorelei Lansford, shacking up with a criminal mastermind…who’d have thought it?

  “I want you,” Vaughn murmured against my swollen lips.

  “I can feel that.”

  “I can’t in the shower…unless…”

  I knew what he was getting at, he had no protection and the idea of taking him bare certainly didn’t flip all my switches, but there was something I hadn’t done for him yet. Now seemed like the perfect time to try.

  “Well,” I murmured, placing a kiss on his chest, “it’s about time I treated you to something special.”

  His eyes widened slightly as I lowered myself to my knees, kissing his skin as I went. Yes, Vaughn, I thought. It’s your lucky day.

  His cock was fully erect, waiting for me to do what I willed and I kissed the underside, my gaze darting up to meet his. His eyes were hooded, lips parted. Clasping my hands on his thighs, I bared my tongue and licked him from root to tip then clamped my lips around his crown. Vaughn moaned, his hands finding my hair and twining into my wet locks.

  I sucked, swirling my tongue, tasting, my own body aching. I hated giving head to a guy, I hated it so much I always tried to avoid it with past boyfriends, but I found myself lowering over Vaughn, taking him as deep as I could and delighting in it.

  I moved back up, rasping my tongue against his heated skin as I went, my fingernails biting into his thighs. His hands began to guide me up and down his shaft, his breathing ragged.

  “Fuck, Lorelei,” he moaned loudly. “Your mouth…suck me.”

  I’d never been with a man who'd spoken to me like that. I’d always been treated like a lady, sex had been straightforward and pleasurable, but never dirty. Sex with Vaughn was, for lack of a better word, filthy and I loved it. I loved it so much I had absolutely no problem being on my knees and sucking his cock.

  I began to move faster, bobbing up and down, sucking and licking, as he thrust into my mouth again and again. He was using me to get off, but knowing the sounds he made were because of me, made it totally worth it.

  Boldly, I let go of his thighs and cupped his balls in one hand while I curled the other around the base of his cock and squeezed.

  “Fuck,” Vaughn exclaimed. “I’m close.”

  It was a warning, but I didn’t care. I wanted to take him over the edge and beyond. I’d fucking swallow.

  I clamped my lips around him harder, sucking, and when the first of his release began to rise, I bared my teeth. Vaughn’s hands le
ft my hair and he groaned, coming hard into my mouth, coating my throat with his pleasure, and still, I didn’t stop. I sucked him mercilessly, coaxing his orgasm on and on until his whole body quivered with the exertion.

  I bet he’d never been sucked like that before.

  Glancing up as I let his cock slip from between my lips, I saw he’d braced himself against the wall of the shower, his palms flat against the tiles. His chest heaved and his eyes…his eyes were full of fire and satisfaction.

  “Where did you learn how to do that?” he asked through a heavy breath. I opened my mouth, but he said, “Actually, I don’t want to know.”

  Leaning down, he curled his hands underneath my arms and hauled me upright and covered my mouth with his.

  “I take it back,” he whispered and my heart began to beat double-time.

  “Take what back?”

  “What I said yesterday about not being exclusive.”

  “You do?” I whispered as he reached for the body wash.

  Vaughn nodded. “I want to give you everything.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I kissed him softly. I was fine with it. More than, actually.

  We didn’t need words after that. I let him wash me from head to toe before he turned the shower off and dried me with a huge white towel, taking care of my needs before his own.

  We dressed in his bedroom, which consisted of me picking up my clothes from where he’d flung them on the floor the night before.

  “When I get back tonight we can have a nice dinner and talk,” I said, shimmying into my dress.

  “What do you prefer?” he asked with a grin, stepping forward to help me zip up.

  “Hm…” I thought about it for a moment.

  “Anything you like.”

  “Donuts and popcorn,” I declared.

  He laughed, spinning me around. “You’re not serious.”

  I screwed up my nose. “Only a little bit. That could be dessert.”

  “How about I surprise you?”

  “Deal.” I liked this Vaughn very much. Domesticated, carefree, playful…the orchestrated, refined, mogul was nowhere in sight. I had a feeling that I was seeing the real man.