Grace Read Online Free Page A

the front door. Picking her up had been a bad idea. The feel of her curves against his chest, her subtle perfume and the hum of her blood under her skin all conspired to drive him mad …arousing the instincts of the man he’d always been, and the vampire he’d become.
    His hands tightened slightly as he took another breath, isolating the scent of her skin under the perfume and lingering smell of shampoo. The perfume was nice but the smell of her skin... He drew the scent into his lungs. She had a sweet, addictive smell. The olfactory version of chocolate and opium combined, perhaps…exotic and erotic.
    His mind blanked as he walked through the front foyer. He couldn’t remember one good reason why he shouldn’t just carry her on up the stairs. Turn left and walk down the corridor to his bedchamber. Lay her on his bed.
    He imagined her there, spread-eagled with her glorious hair spread around her like a bright halo. He’d tie her with the silken cord he’d purchased for just such an occasion. How delicious she’d look with the cord looped around her delicate wrists and ankles, pulled tight to open her body to him...
    He swallowed as his body tightened, his balls drawn up and aching. The need to make the fantasy a reality nearly overwhelmed him, the need to spread her soft thighs and drive his rigid cock into her, over and over, nearly undid him. He longed to pleasure her until they were both too exhausted to move.
    He started to walk toward the stairs when he caught her searching gaze. The trust in her green eyes slammed a brick into his gut, and his steps faltered. He couldn’t do it. Her arms tightened around his neck a little and she smiled. Just the slightest curve of her lips but Jaron felt like he was basking in a sun he hadn’t seen for centuries. Changing course, he headed for the dining room.
     
    “You have a beautiful house. Have you lived here long?” Grace asked, her voice trembling with nerves as Jaron carried her along the darkened hallway. Seriously, did the guy forget to pay his electric bill? He gave her a brief glance, and for a moment there, just a split second, the look in his eyes scared her.
    No, not scared, exactly. More like excited, but frighteningly so. It was the sort of look that turned her heart over in her chest and rendered the lace between her thighs damp with need. That’s what scared her.  Something deep inside told her he wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want or ask him to do. Which was the problem. It wouldn’t take much to get her to beg. Or to reveal her deepest, darkest desires, no matter how deviant they seemed.
    “Seems like forever.”
    His lips, full and sensual in the masculine lines of his face, curved in a small smile as he shouldered his way through a door and into a large dining room. A small gasp escaped her. If she’d been awed by the outside of the house, it was nothing compared to her sense of amazement now. She felt like Alice in Wonderland, just without the whole ‘falling down the rabbit hole’ bit.
    The room was huge, the table nearly as large. Grace started to count the chairs but gave up quickly. You could hold a banquet in there and still have room for a live band in the corner. Tonight, only two places were set, at the far end of the table nearest the fire crackling in the hearth. Jaron headed that way, his long strides eating up the room. Hooking a foot around the chair leg, he pulled it out and settled her down without effort.
    “Do you work out?” she asked suddenly as he moved her chair in for her. He was stronger than she’d expected. He’d lifted her without effort and she wasn’t at her slimmest these days. Months and months with minimal exercise had seen to that.
    “I’m sorry?” He blinked, those gorgeous eyes locked on hers as he leaned over. So close his breath whispered over her shoulders, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.
    “Do you work out? You’re very… Um...” Built? Ripped? What was the right term? He was lean