Fingers gripped my hip. “I can give you more.”

That hand lifted off my skin and fell back with a tight slap on my bare ass. A moan like no other moan to ever leave my lips emerged from my mouth.

“I can give you my all.” Another soft smack. Pushing me down, down, down.

“Yes,” I whimpered.

True to his word, he gave me everything. He thrust his cock into me uncontrollably, the sound of his hips against my ass encompassing our pants.

“Come with me.” His front fell on top of my back, deliciously caging me. Burying me with him. His fingers now rubbing my clit, accompanying his thrusts. “I want to feel you coming on my cock as I go off.”

One more frantic, desperate thrust. That was all it took for both of us to detonate into bliss. Groans equally powerful left both our mouths, our names blessing each other’s lips with them.

Aaron’s hands came around my middle, holding on to me more than holding me to him. Then, he brought us upward, slipping out of me. I turned around in his arms and leaned my chin on his chest, and he brushed a kiss on my forehead. Another one on my lips. Then another one on my nose.

“You feel and taste like you are mine.”

I looked up, right into his eyes. “I am.”

Just two words, two simple words that were used so often in casual conversation that they shouldn’t have held much meaning. But they did. Those two ordinary words uttered in that precise moment mattered. I knew because Aaron’s face lit up with them. Breaking into the most beautiful smile to date. Burning down the last of my defenses. And as I stared into the blue of his eyes, I watched those walls of mine collapse as if I hadn’t spent all this time building them up.

“I am,” I repeated, crushing the last of the remnants of the wreckage with my hands.

Aaron kissed me again, sealing those two words with his lips. Adding a few more of his own. “I’m going to prove to you that you are.”

This time around, instead of having the tacos to go, we devoured them right on the spot. Post-sex hunger did these things to you.

“Seriously,” I said, inserting a finger in my mouth and savoring the sauce sticking to it. “I’m just saying that if vampires are going to make a comeback, the least they can do is sparkle.” Finding Aaron’s gaze on my mouth, I let my hand hover in the air and felt the light blush covering my cheeks. “Are you listening, Blackford?”

His eyes bounced up and then down again. “Yes, vampires. Sparkles.”

I frowned. “Something in my mouth?” God knew that with my record, I had probably been talking with a chunk of fish or cilantro hanging off my mouth.

Aaron dipped his head, his mouth landing on the corner of my lips. Then, I felt his tongue peek out and wipe that spot clean.

“Not anymore.”

My panties might have just dropped to the floor, but at least my lips were clean—and tingly—as a whistle.

“Thanks,” I muttered. Willing my blood to start circulating normally again. I wiped the rest of the sticky sauce off my hands with a napkin. “I still can’t believe you’d be a vampire over a werewolf, by the way.”

Something else I couldn’t believe either? Aaron had had that conversation with me without batting an eyelash. Not only that, but he had seemed to know a fair bit about paranormal creatures. And I had questions.

Aaron retrieved the paper from my grip and threw it in a trash can that stood next to the food truck. “They are immortal,” he said as if there were no other point to be made.

“But you are so … werewolfish.”

True to my accusations, those blue eyes glinted with a hungry edge. “Am I?”

“Yes. First off, you are big and hot and—”

“Oh, I’m already loving this.” One of his arms curled around me, tugging me to his side. “Please continue.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter.” I grabbed his hand, lifting it in the air in front of us. “See? These are like paws. And when I say hot, I mean, temperature-wise, like …” I trailed off. Only thinking about phallic-shaped hot stuff. Dios, had all the sex killed off that many of my brain cells? “Your skin feels hot to the touch, yeah. Like a … a heated, weighted blanket.” I turned, watching him frown. “I say it as a compliment. I mean it in a I’d love to get under you and snuggle right now way.”

That frown disappeared. “I can live with that.” His head dipped, and he placed a kiss on top of my hair. “What else?”

“You are loyal.”

He hummed in agreement.

“Also private. You keep to yourself. And even if people think that you are cold and unfriendly, it’s just that you have a stoic approach to most things. You watch everything so that you can anticipate every single thing that comes your way, which, honestly, it’s really impressive but very annoying too.” I peeked at him over my shoulder, finding him looking at me strangely. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head, getting rid of whatever it had been that was making him look all dazed. I watched him compose himself. “You are forgetting something.”

My eyebrows rose. “And what’s that?”

“I bite,” he said before grazing his teeth over my shoulder. Then, he nibbled on the sensitive skin where my shoulder met my neck.

Giggling like a madwoman, I let my body burrow into his embrace. But just as I was doing so, someone caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought it was someone from work. One of the guys on Gerald’s team, if that glimpse of blond hair and slender shoulders was enough to tell him apart.

Apprehension sank deep in my belly, killing my fit of carefree giggles.

Aaron didn’t seem to notice the shift in me, and if he did, he didn’t say anything.

“Let’s go home. I have a weighted-blanket reputation to uphold.”

True to his word, Aaron had curled his body around mine in that gigantic and dreamy sofa that was planted in the middle of his loft. It had probably been the mixture of exhaustion, jet lag, and warmth coming off his body, but as much as I had tried to fight it, I had passed out under two minutes flat after returning to his apartment.

Looking down, I caught a glimpse of a big and hefty hand trailing up my stomach. We were lying on our sides, and judging by the silence around us, the TV was no longer on. Aaron had probably turned it off as soon as I drifted off.

Long fingers splayed along my front, reaching the underside of my breasts. Shifting under the sensation traveling down my body, I burrowed myself further into him.

A grunt fell in my neck. “It’s dark outside.”

My gaze traveled to the massive windows that faced the waterfront, as if I had needed confirmation that night had fallen. “We fell asleep,” I said, returning my eyes to those five fingers on my stomach, my toes already curling with anticipation. “I thought you wanted us to fight jet lag together, mister.”

“I did, for a while.” Aaron chuckled, and I felt the sound in my back. My lips bent up as my mind pictured his beautiful face smiling. “But you are so fucking soft, curled up against me.” His hand trailed up and then down, and then I was pulled against him. “I couldn’t help myself. You made me lose perspective.”

I turned in his embrace, rolling so I could face him. His hand fell on my lower back, the change of positions making my mouth almost come into contact with his neck. I looked up into his eyes.

“Excuse you. Are you putting this on me?”

“Never.” He tugged me closer again, our fronts flush together.

My eyes fluttered closed, and a content sigh left my lips. “Would you take me to bed, Aaron Blackford?”

He never uttered his answer. Instead, he peeled himself off the sofa with me in his arms. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I giggled at the sudden enthusiasm. With long and quick strides, he carried me across his apartment, passing the marble kitchen island and then making his way down the wide and uncluttered hallway and straight into the master bedroom. His bedroom. A shot of something sultry curled its way along my body. I was about to sleep next to Aaron—in his bed, wrapped in his soft and lush linens, my head on the plush pillows where his head had rested many times.