Forever Touched (Touch of Vampire #5)

CHAPTER 23

23

EVERETT

She had no idea how nervous I was. In the one-hundred-eighty-eight years of my existence, I’d never once been on a date.

If it hadn’t been for Loch and Kade, I never would have thought to bring her out here for a picnic dinner. Thoughtful gestures weren’t exactly my forte. I’d been focused so long on protecting my brothers and breaking the kingdom’s curse that something as simple as a picnic seemed foreign to me now. It was almost awkward when I set her down and waited for her to claim a spot on the blanket.

I shouldn’t have worried, though.

The second she sat down, she loudly moaned, “Yummm. Do I smell chicken? I’m starved .”

A smile twitched my mouth, but that wasn’t the only thing twitching. I was enchanted by her every move. Bewitched. Despite the literal darkness she lived in, she continued to brightly shine like a star. I couldn’t stop watching her. Couldn’t stop wanting her.

To hide the growing bulge in my pants, I sat across from her and replied, “Loch found a little restaurant not too far from here. I think it’s called Chicken and . . .”

“Chicken n’ Things? Yes! I’ve always wanted to go there.”

She hungrily eyed the picnic basket, nearly shaking in her eagerness. Sudden emotion surged through me, and I couldn’t help but say, “Do the Faircrofts not feed you?”

She glanced up at me, then quickly looked away, but not fast enough. “I know what you’re thinking, but they don’t starve me. They’re just not used to feeding a mortal. Besides, I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself.”

“Adalyn, I’m not judging you. I just want to know if you’re being taken care of.”

At the softness in my voice, she sighed and looked up again. “I really do get paid for the work I do, if that’s what you’re asking. I just get busy and forget to eat sometimes.”

Her little mouse familiar scampered onto her thigh and loudly squeaked, sounding very much like she was scolding Adalyn.

“Well, I can’t tell him that,” she replied to whatever Pepper said. “And I do eat. Just not as much as I want to.”

As they bickered, I opened the basket and started pulling out food. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, caesar salad, and buttery biscuits. I tried not to sneer at it all, but couldn’t quite manage it.

When the bickering abruptly stopped, I looked up to see Adalyn’s gaze glued to the food. So was Pepper’s. I might as well no longer exist. Smirking, I said, “Help yourself.”

Adalyn dove right in, dumping a bit of everything onto her plate. “Oh man, Pep. This is gonna be so good.” Grabbing a chicken leg, she took a huge bite before adding, “I can’t believe I get to have two huge meals in one day. A girl could get used to this.”

Once again, emotion heated my insides. The more I learned about her abysmal living conditions, the angrier I became. I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and carry her far away from here.

If it wasn’t for that bloody pactum, I’d have her out of here in a heartbeat.

As she ate, making sure to set aside tiny pieces of biscuit for Pepper, she failed to notice me watching her. Her entire focus was on rapidly consuming the food, as if afraid it would be taken from her at any moment. I wondered for the umpteenth time today if the Faircrofts punished her. If they withheld food when she displeased them. Or worse . . . if they physically beat her.

Just the thought of them touching her small breakable body made me see red.

“You okay?”

I quickly blinked the red away and saw that Adalyn had finally noticed me. Clearing my throat, I gruffly replied, “Yes.”

“Hmm,” she said, studying me thoughtfully. “You don’t like food much, do you?”

I smiled a little at her rhetorical question. “The longer a vampire lives, the less they enjoy food. My father doesn’t even eat food anymore.”

“Oh. So you’re not enjoying the picnic?”

“Quite the opposite. I might not be enjoying the food, but I’m enjoying the company just fine.”

My smile grew as I felt through our bond how pleased she was. And flustered. Very flustered.

“Uh,” she said, reaching up to fiddle with her hair. “So I don’t know what the proper etiquette is for a picnic date with a vampire. Am I supposed to offer you my blood?”

My cock twitched again, the thought of feeding on her instantly arousing me. “Only if you’re offering it to me of your own volition. No strings attached.”

I heard her pulse quicken. So did mine.

“I mean, you know that I crave venom, so I’m not opposed to it. If you’re hungry, I can feed you.”

My cock hardened into a full-blown erection. I didn’t respond, the sudden lack of blood flow to my brain robbing me of speech .

“By the way, you never told me what the mating frenzy is,” she said, effectively adding fuel to the flames.

I swallowed a groan, fairly certain I was in the midst of the frenzy right now.

“I’m guessing it has something to do with mating,” she went on, making it hard for me to breathe. “And frenzy.”

“The mating frenzy happens shortly after a soulmate pair completes their bond through intercourse,” I ground out, hoping to quickly explain and direct the conversation to safer waters. “They feel a constant need to be close and to mate.”

She stared at me for a moment, then hesitantly said, “Oh. Is that . . . is that what you’re feeling right now? Do you need to have sex?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, ignoring my raging hard on to calmly reply, “Your job isn’t to pleasure me, Adalyn. That’s not what I came here for.”

She was silent for a beat. Then quietly said, “I don’t mind, Everett. Yes, you claimed me without my permission. Yes, I was hurt. But I no longer think you did it to control me. I don’t feel used when I’m with you. I feel safe. I feel seen . I’ve shown you the real me, and you’re still here. You still . . . you still want me.”

“Of course I want you,” I groaned, reopening my eyes to look at her. “But I don’t just want you for your body. My father was right. It wasn’t a coincidence that he sent me to Dreamscape. Fate brought me to you because you’re my purpose. My light . And I crave that light more than anything. I don’t care if you’re a witch or a blood whore, Adalyn. I just want you. You’re all I want.”

I didn’t know where the words had come from. They’d just spilled out of me, rolling off my tongue before I could stop them. I wouldn’t take them back, though. I’d meant every word and could only hope she felt a fraction of what I felt for her .

“Adalyn,” I said, worried that I’d terrified her. She was still as stone, her golden eyes frozen wide in shock.

I was about to change the subject when she suddenly moved. In a breath, she was in my lap and claiming my mouth. Elated, I fisted her hair and returned the kiss with equal passion.

When her lips parted, I slipped my tongue inside to curl it around hers. With a breathless moan, she hitched her bare legs around my waist and sank onto my throbbing cock. I returned the moan and cupped her backside to rock her against me. She rocked back, thrusting her hips in time to the thrusts of my tongue.

In no time, we were both desperate for more. I removed her top, and she removed mine, all without breaking the kiss. We continued to feverishly kiss as I leaned forward to lay her on the blanket, shoving aside plates and food containers in the process. I assumed Adalyn would tell me if Pepper was in danger of being squished, so I didn’t hesitate to cover her body with mine.

Not even caring if the little mouse familiar was watching, I rocked against Adalyn again, pleased when she arched up for more. I reached between us to undo my pants, but she broke the kiss to pant, “Wait. You pleasured me the last time you were here. I want to return the favor.”

I started to protest, but the words ended in a groan as she reached down and gripped me through my pants. Pleasure shot through me, robbing me of air. When she rolled us so that I was on my back instead, all I could do was surrender. Her skilled little hands made quick work of undoing my buckle and unzipping my pants, allowing my erection to spring free.

“Adalyn,” I said, breathing her name like a prayer. I looked up at her, just as she lowered her head and took me into her mouth. At the beautiful sight of her lips around my cock, I groaned without restraint.

Pleased by my reaction, she curled her tongue around me and began to suck. Euphoria rocked my body, and I jerked against her mouth, the need to thrust overwhelming.

“Adalyn, baby,” I moaned, reaching up to slide my fingers into her hair. “Your mouth feels so damned good.”

As she continued to suck, she cupped my balls, making me see stars.

God, her mouth and hands were magic. Every time she touched me, I was blown away by how good it felt. She was wrecking me in the best way possible, making me forget all others before her. Nothing before her mattered. She was the only one I desired and craved. The only one I wanted to touch me. To pleasure me. To fill my world with indescribable bliss.

Needing more friction, needing more her , I gripped her hair and started to thrust. She let me, answering my need by swallowing more of my shaft. Unable to keep my eyes open a moment longer, I let them roll back and focused on the growing tension in my body. The delicious tension that her hands and lips and tongue were creating.

She added a second hand, squeezing the base of my shaft until I jerked again, barely able to hold off my orgasm. She kept squeezing and sucking and pumping until my entire body was a riot of sensation, screaming for release. My thighs quivered, the orgasm building and building.

She squeezed once more, and I lost it. With a roar, I surrendered to the ecstasy pounding through me and spilled my release. But she didn’t pull away. She continued to suck on me, taking all of me into her mouth. Tasting me. Swallowing me.

I peeled open my eyes to watch her. She was beautiful. The most beautiful creature I’d ever seen and ever would see. When she finally released me, tilting her swollen lips into that captivating smirk I couldn’t get enough of, a feeling flooded my body. One that stole my breath and left me stunned to my very core.

I was falling for her.

I was falling for my soulmate.