Him Part Fourteen

Somehow, I could feel Michael’s proximity behind me. If he was a normal person, I would’ve felt his body heat warming my back, but all I could feel was my own warmth reflected back at me and his coolness beneath.

I was frozen in place, concentrating on my breathing with butterflies in my stomach going haywire, and time passed like that for several long moments. It was a heated, delicious anticipation that ran through my veins instead of blood.

The only problem was that I didn’t know what to do. It felt like the man standing behind me close enough to touch me was waiting for something, but I didn’t know what that was.

“Stay still,” Michael said, low, and I felt his cool breath on my neck again. A combination of a shiver and heat rushed through my body like wildfire and I sucked in a breath.

Cool fingertips touched the bare skin at the base of my neck and I flinched from the shock as my breathing increased.

“Relax,” he whispered. Then he bent his head down and kissed the curve of my shoulder.

A breathless moan escaped me and I bit my lip, forcing my knees to hold steady.

Goose bumps erupted across my skin as I heard a low groan rumbling from his chest. It vibrated against my back and through his mouth and my eyes slid closed in response.

I reveled in the sensation of his cool lips against my skin.

My neck.

I never knew how intoxicating that would be. It was a rush, so palpable, it felt like the whole space was crackling with unspent energy.

That was when I realized it was coming from us.

The thrum of our bodies, barely touching, was like a harmony of chords in an orchestra.

Michael’s mouth lifted from my neck and turned toward my ear. “You smell amazing, Tessa.”

“Is that my blood you’re referring to?” I blurted before I realized I wanted to speak and my eyes flashed open.

That vibration that passed between us stopped and he moved around to look at me. His eyes met mine and I forgot what I was thinking. “Why would you think that?”

“Isn’t that what you want from me?”

I didn’t understand why I was asking those questions. No matter what words escaped me, deep down, I knew it didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter if Michael was a real, flesh and blood vampire. It didn’t matter if he wanted to drink my blood. Everything about him — even his cool skin, his stormy blue eyes, and those fangs I noticed before — turned me on in a way I never felt before in my life.

And I liked that.

After a few more long moments, his cool, strong hands lifted and ran up my arms in a slow, agonizing caress. I shivered, realizing he carried me through Paris in the middle of winter without my coat, and I didn’t notice we left it behind.

I forgot what I was thinking as his fingers kept moving until they held my face. It felt like ice against my flushed skin, and I sucked in a breath.

“I might be a vampire, but I was referring to you. You are beautiful, intelligent, capable of protecting yourself, and unlike any other woman I’ve ever met. It is you, Tessa. All of you. I don’t know what you are, but your blood is the last thing on my mind.”

I forgot how to breathe.

Did he really just say all those things?

He was even more perfect than I thought.

Without thinking, my hands lifted to his face and pulled him toward me.

Then I kissed him, hard.

© Sarah Doughty

This is part 14 of Him. Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, and part 13.
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Stay tuned for more.
This was also published at UInk.ca.