She emphatically shook her head. "I won"t hypnotize you or drink from you again without your permission. Word of honor."
Luckily, it didn"t seem to occur to Paul that she might influence him to accept her word, and he would never realize it. She didn"t want to complicate the discussion by reminding him of that possibility. "It"s a kind of magnetism we have. Involuntary, unless we suppress it deliberately, and it gets stronger the more excited we are."
"You"re saying I can"t help being attracted to you. Any man would."
She nodded. "s.e.xual polarity makes it more intense, but it can work on same-s.e.x targets if we want it to."
"I don"t believe it"s just that." Now he did allow himself to inch closer to her, as if he expected her to bolt like a deer. "I like you for yourself, your mind, your personality."
"I"m glad," she whispered. If she let herself think too much about his claim, she would doubt it all over again. In her overwrought condition, she couldn"t be sure, herself, how much she was lulling him with her innate power.
"Because I need a favor from you."
The musky aroma of his arousal made a fire smolder in the pit of her stomach. The antlike p.r.i.c.kle under her skin was back, stronger than before.
Chapter Ten
"What kind of favor?" The tremor in his voice underscored the queasy excitement he radiated. A touch of anxiety made his pulse race, yet her heat vision showed blood pooling in his loins.
She snaked her arms around his waist and undulated against him. "I"m in estrus. I recognize the symptoms, from the descriptions I"ve heard. And I won"t be able to ride it out alone, after all. I tried, and it didn"t work. Something about needing a live male body in direct contact with mine, I guess. He hugged her close and ma.s.saged her shoulder blades. "You mean you want me to-Good grief, do you know what position you"re putting me in?"
"What"s wrong?" She sensed waves of l.u.s.t emanating from him. Why did he hesitate? "You said you wanted me."
"If you can read emotions, you know I do. h.e.l.l, you should be able to tell without that." His arms tightened around her, and he nuzzled her neck. "That"s just the point. This is the stereotype of every man"s ultimate fantasy, a woman in heat who can"t get enough of him. I"d be taking advantage of your...predicament."
Ephemerals! Their logic completely eluded her. "Taking advantage of me? Don"t be ridiculous, it"s the opposite. I"m taking advantage of you. I need a male, and you"re the only one around." She drew a deep breath. "And the only one I want."
He gazed at her, their eyes meeting almost level. "Really?"
"Yes. I certainly don"t want any of the eligible males of my own species. If I have to choose anyone, it"s you."
"All right." His voice shook. To her ears, the thunder of his heartbeat almost drowned out the words. "If you"re sure, I"m not about to pa.s.s up the opportunity."
"Wonderful!" She decided not to mention the literal truth of the "can"t get enough" clause. With luck, her human heritage meant that her needs wouldn"t rage beyond the limits he could handle. She slipped out of his arms and stripped off her panties. "Take off your clothes."
"Whoa-" He backed up a pace. "We don"t usually rush into things so abruptly."
"Oh. I guess you have plenty of experience with s.e.xual relations." Her eagerness shaded into trepidation as she speculated that her ignorance of mating etiquette might offend or bore him.
He shrugged, his aura wavering with a hint of discomfort. "I"m no Don Juan. I"ve been celibate since my last relationship ended six years ago. So you don"t have to worry about catching anything."
That point hadn"t even occurred to her. "I"m immune to infectious diseases. And since I"ve never had intercourse, I can"t be a carrier."
"Never? Not even with the men you"ve fed on?" His aura dimmed, then flared a lurid red.
What did that momentary flash of darker emotion mean? Jealousy? "It"s not necessary. I get my satisfaction from them without allowing that intimacy. This is different."
At the word "different," she sensed a tinge of doubt in him, but he didn"t pursue the point. "I almost forgot, what about pregnancy?"
"I don"t expect to ovulate. That"s just a far-fetched idea of my mentor"s. If I do, I have enough control over my body to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting."
"That"s all right, then. If you aren"t worried about-"
"What"s wrong?" "Nothing." He exhaled a deep breath. "No problem."
"So what are you waiting for? Get undressed." She reached for the snap on his shorts.
Paul grabbed her wrist. "Hold it. I"m used to a little more in the way of preliminaries." To her dismay, the level of his arousal dropped slightly, tainted by confused hesitance.
"Why? You"ve acknowledged that you desire me, and I need a male. The seduction process is unnecessary."
"Another male fantasy, a woman who"s as ready as a man. You make it sound so, well, mundane."
Gillian shrugged. "It"s a biological process, after all." Though she enjoyed his ardor, at the same time it made her p.r.i.c.kle with uneasiness. Personal involvement with a human donor meant a risk she"d always been taught to avoid.
"At least let"s go into the bedroom. More comfortable."
"Very well." She laced her fingers through his. "Yours or the guest room?"
"Uh...mine, I guess." His thumb traced a circle on her palm. The cilia bristled, making her shiver with pleasure. "Hey, little hairs. Interesting."
"And sensitive. Come on." She led him into the bedroom and lay down on his unmade bed, still holding his hand.
Sitting on the edge of the mattress, he stroked down the front of her chest, between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Interesting hair growth pattern."
"Speaking as a zoologist?" she whispered.
He grinned. "Right. Got to make careful observations." He traced the outline of the inverted triangle of fine hair that covered her torso from the underside of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s down, with its apex at her navel. "Like silk." The painless burning of his hand on her bare flesh made her squirm. Every nerve sizzled, and her nipples hardened.
Paul freed his hand from hers and skimmed over both peaks. Ordinarily, that caress would have made her salivate and the roots of her teeth ache. It did, but instead of the whole-body arousal that normally accompanied blood-thirst, she felt fiery darts shooting straight from her nipples to her loins. Crossing her legs and squeezing them didn"t help. "Take off your shirt," she whispered.
After he pulled the shirt off, she raked her nails lightly over his chest, careful not to scratch him. When she played with the tight curls of hair and flicked one of his nipples, as taut as her own, he gasped.
"You"re s.e.xually aroused," she said.
"How"d you figure that out?" he said with a wry smile. "Oh, yeah, you sense emotions."
"Not only that. I see into the infrared, so I know your skin temperature is rising. And your scent has changed, too."
He flushed a deeper red and bent to take off his shoes and socks. "Good grief, I can"t have any secrets around you, can I?" But embarra.s.sment didn"t stop him from bending to kiss her, while one hand returned to fondling her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Even though she avidly drank in his taste and aroma, she writhed with impatience.
He paused to catch his breath and ran his hand down the front of her body, this time not stopping at the navel. She arched her hips to meet the hand cupping the soft triangle of pubic hair. "Do you have an erection?" she said.
"Are you kidding?"
"No, I"m asking. My knowledge of human male s.e.xual physiology is only theoretical. I can see a concentration of heat at your groin, but that just tells me blood is rising to the surface there."
"It sure is." His breathing came heavy and ragged.
"Show me."
With shaking hands, he unfastened his shorts and dropped them to the floor, along with the briefs underneath. His erection jutted out at a ninety-degree angle.
Bracing himself with both hands on either side of her, he licked first one nipple, then another. Heat pooled between her legs.
She dug her nails into his shoulders, only the scent of blood reminding her to exercise restraint. "What are you waiting for? You"re obviously ready to copulate."
Paul gazed into her eyes. "I don"t want to start before you"re ready, maybe hurt you."
"You can"t hurt me. I"m not human, remember? No hymen. Besides, I can suppress pain."
"Still, most women like to take it slowly, get warmed up, so to speak." His fingers toyed with the silken hair at the apex of her thighs.
"I don"t need warming up. I"m hot." She meant the term literally; her normally cool skin felt scorched. "And my v.a.g.i.n.a is lubricated. I"m ready for intromission."
One of his fingers dipped into her wet heat, then stroked slowly up and down between the folds. "Unbelievable, you"ve got me incredibly turned on by talking like a textbook." He circled the firm bud at the top of her l.a.b.i.a.
She couldn"t suppress a moan. "That tickles."
"How"s this?" His fingertip flicked back and forth over the sensitive spot. "Or this?" He swept down the insides of both thighs, then back up to her burning center.
"Tickles," she whimpered.
"Then I"d better stop." She heard the humor in his tone.
Her hips involuntarily rocked against his hand. "No! Stopping makes it worse." She wiggled, her attention torn between the slowly building pressure in that location and the hot flood deeper inside.
She gripped his shaft, fascinated by the texture, hard, yet satin-smooth on the surface. He groaned and thrust into her clasp. "You"re ready to penetrate, aren"t you?"
"You bet," he said through gritted teeth.
"Then do it. Now!"
He knelt between her spread legs and probed at the welcoming portal. She arched up to draw him in. For a second she felt tightness, almost pain, but as she"d expected, it disappeared when he began to move. She caught her breath in astonishment. The sensation was so focused, so unlike the whole-body climax of feeding on aroused prey. Fire consumed her. She undulated with the rhythm of the contractions that convulsed her inner flesh.
The convulsion happened twice more before Paul plunged in to the full depth and groaned aloud while his whole body shook.
She felt the hot eruption of his release inside her.
Breathing hard, he eased down on top of her. After a couple of minutes he said, "Oh, Lord, that was incredible. Too bad it was over so fast."
"We can take a slower pace next time, if that"s what you want."
He raised his head to stare at her. She felt his surprise. "You"re expecting a next time?"
"I"m in estrus, remember? Normally this continues for a full night."
"Yeah, that would be the usual pattern for animals like cats and such. You, too?"
"So I"ve been told." Did he think of her as an exotic specimen to study? Why did that idea disturb her? She wanted an uncomplicated mating, didn"t she?
"Well, as long as I"ve waited to have you like this, one time couldn"t wear me out." He planted a light kiss on her parted lips.
"Just give me a little while to recover."
She already felt the insistent need coiling in the pit of her abdomen. Trailing her fingers down the front of his body, she curled over him to circle each of his nipples with her tongue. The salty flavor reminded her of blood, but the urgency that drove her felt different from bloodl.u.s.t. Her fingertips brushed his genitals, and she felt a twitch of response. He caught his breath.
"I"m getting wet again," she murmured, nibbling her way down his chest, grazing the skin without scratching it.
"I don"t think I"m ready-" He gasped as her nails found a sensitive ridge in the perineal area. "Or I could be wrong about that."
Alert to the changing nuances of his emotions and sensations, she followed the shifting pattern of his arousal until he hardened, and she sensed his pa.s.sion building toward explosion. By now she was writhing with impatience. "Come on," she growled, rolling onto her back.
This time she enjoyed six o.r.g.a.s.ms before he reached his.
Struggling for breath, his head on her breast, Paul said, "Oh, G.o.d, how do you do that? Know exactly how to touch?" "Empathic perception, remember? That includes physical sensations as well as emotions."
"I can see where it has advantages."
She felt the rhythm of his heartbeat and respiration decelerate as his emotional high faded toward sleep. She dozed awhile, too, although she couldn"t really sleep after dark. Within less than half an hour, the craving seized her anew, as fierce as thirst.
She pushed Paul onto his back and lay on top of him. "Wake up."
"What-?" His eyelids barely opened.
"I need you again." She licked and nuzzled him, meanwhile rubbing her insistent heat against his dormant p.e.n.i.s.
"Gillian, I"m not sure I can."
"You have to." She raised up to straddle his hips, stroking down his body in ever -lengthening spirals. As she"d expected, his nerves and blood vessels responded to the power of her touch. Finding the trigger points, she worked on them until he sprang erect under her.
"I don"t believe this-how-" He was already thrusting even before she impaled herself on him. "You promised you wouldn"t hypnotize me."
"This isn"t hypnotism, just encouragement. I influenced your body, not your mind."
"Well, it"s...definitely-encouraging!"
This time she lost count of her climaxes. Since even vampiric seduction couldn"t completely overrule human male physiology, Paul lasted over fifteen minutes before he spent.