The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires

"That's a sweet sentiment," I murmured between kisses, my hands busily stroking his back and sides, reacquainting myself with his deliciously silk-covered steely muscles, my toes all but curling with ecstasy as his kisses moved to the spot behind my ear that had me shivering with anticipation.

It's also the literal truth. Dark Ones—even redeemed Dark Ones—cannot live without their Beloveds. So you see, sweetling, I just couldn't allow you to sacrifice yourself that way. Something had to be done.

His penis nudged those parts of me that were pleasurably anticipating its arrival, the tight burn of arousal causing my knees to slide up around his hips. His teeth pierced my flesh at the same time he penetrated me, our bodies, minds, and souls merged into one burning conflagration of love.

The meaning of his words sank in as I drifted down from a climax that went beyond the merely sexual. Theo had flipped us over so that I was resting on him, my heart beating against his, sharing one rhythm. I lifted my head from his damp chest to look up at his face, propping myself up on an elbow to look at him. "Are you saying that you got the sovereign to intervene? You managed to not only figure out who the sovereign was pretending to be, but you convinced him…her…whatever, to help us? You faced almost insurmountable odds to do all that, and you seriously believe you are not going to tell me everything about it, in the most excruciating detail?"

His smile was lazy, filled with smug masculine satisfaction. "You haven't sufficiently persuaded me to tell you, sweetling."

I sat up on him, pulling one hand behind my back, the other tracing a line down his damp chest. His eyes opened, the banked fires of desire beginning to smolder again as I slid down his legs.

I smiled as his penis twitched in anticipation. "Then I guess I'll just have to try harder, won't I?"

The fingers of the hand behind my back grew cold from the snowball that was forming in my palm.