"God, yes," he quickly answered, then flushed.
"Do you think about them a lot?"
He briefly inclined his forehead near hers. "Some minutes less than others."
She gave a throaty chuckle, and he seemed surprised that he'd amused her.
"What would you be doing while I kissed them?" he asked.
"My hands would be rubbing all along your back."
Her eyes fluttered closed when he drew his hands down to reach for her. His palms were so big, fully covering the outline of her br**sts.
She moaned softly when she felt tiny electrical shocks over every inch of them. "I'd sigh from the way your muscles worked beneath my hands. Then I'd clutch your hips to signal that I wanted more of you." He raised his brows at that, and she murmured, "I'd be getting desperate for you by this point."
"So you wouldn't stop me if I" - he swallowed and his voice dropped an octave lower - "if I tried easing my hand up your dress?"
"Stop you? I'd place your hand on my panties."
He gave another groan. "I'd hook my finger under that black lace and pull them aside." He'd clearly been thinking about more than just what her br**sts would feel like.
"Conrad, I'd be wet for you."
The deep rumble of his voice had turned to a husky rasp. "I'd be so f**king hard for you."
"Would you want to bite me?"
"Yes," he hissed. "Would you let me?"
If he needed, she would give. "I'd deny you nothing."
"Then I'd take your neck and your br**sts. I'd bite your white thighs right above your stockings."
Intense male. She stifled a whimper. "We're doing it again, exchanging comments, bandying."
"Like dancing."
She shook her head and whispered, "Like sex."
He stared down into her eyes, making her feel like she was drowning in fire. "Néomi, you make me want to be blooded. But only by you."
21
This was Conrad's second sexual encounter, if he counted the time in the shower with her.
The female didn't have a body that he could feel, he couldn't get erect, and yet it was powerful. If they were this way now, he couldn't imagine what it would have been like if they'd met when they'd both been truly alive.
Of course, he'd known there was pleasure to be had. But he'd never suspected the rush, the savage thrill of discovering that a woman wanted him sexually. He'd never known the confidence that if he moved to take a female, she would be wet for him and clutching his hips for more.
She leaned up and brushed her cheek against his. He felt the same electricity but had no perception of her skin. He tried to imagine how soft her flesh would be. "I want to feel you, Néomi. I want to be inside you."
She closed her eyes and rubbed her lips near his. "My God, I wish I could be flesh and blood for you."
He groaned at the yearning in her tone. Their situation frustrated him to no end. He wanted her more than he had any other woman - he was convinced that she would have blooded him when she'd still been alive. And he truly believed she would receive him.
But I can't take her... .
With a bitter curse, Conrad dropped his arms through her, turning away. He prowled the room, pausing only to punch the wall with frustration -
He just stopped himself an inch from the crumbling plaster. He shot a glance at her, and she looked like he'd hung the moon. Damn, he could get used to looks like that.
Would she think him ridiculous if he asked her for more? They'd only known each other for a short amount of time. She was experienced and he... wasn't. To hell with it - he had to know. "Would you want to be with me? If you could? For more than sex."
She gave him a sad smile. "You have a destined Bride out there awaiting you."
"Néomi, you might be... mine."
At his words, her heart skipped, but she forced herself to ask, "Then why haven't you been blooded? Your heart hasn't started beating, and you still take no breaths. You don't... react to me in a physical way."
"I think my vampire instinct doesn't recognize you as my Bride because you're not technically alive," he said. "I need to know if you're merely playing at this, with me, because I'm here and you can."
"I am not playing with you. But Conrad, even if we had no physical limitations, I don't know that we could make this work between us. We're too different."
"How the hell are we too different?"
"All I've ever wanted is life. I covet it so much I feel like I'll scream. But you... destroy it. And you're so cavalier about it."
"I kill. It's what I'm best at."
"If it was in self-defense or for a cause you believed in, then I could understand. But to extinguish life for money? I could never accept that."
"What if I... stopped? What if I told you that when I'm near you, I want to be a better man? Does that count for nothing?"
"It counts for everything!" She raised her hand to her forehead. "This is a moot point anyway. Unless you know of a way to resurrect ghosts... ?"
"No, I don't. But that doesn't mean there isn't a way. I'd search for centuries if I had to."
Centuries. Hundreds of years more of sliver moons and monthly torture.
"And understand this, Néomi - I'll do it whether you want more with me or not. So don't let that affect your answer."
"Conrad, do you really mean that?" Words bubbled up - I need to be with you... I want us to try...
He opened his mouth to answer, then stilled. "Someone's outside." Crossing to the window, he cracked open the drape. And scowled. "Excellent. My sisters-in-law are dropping by."