The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance Page 5

  Now Lilin shook her head and went into the house where she’d prepared a surprise dinner for Archer. She liked how predictable he was in coming home at the same time every day.

  She’d set the table the way he’d taught her. In the centre she placed the mashed potatoes (so, they were a little lumpy and watery), peas (that were just a tad brown), and a beef roast she’d been cooking all day in the crockpot (it was on the overdone side, but never mind that). For dessert, she would grab the ice cream stashed in the freezer and the chocolate sauce from the refrigerator. She couldn’t go wrong with that. She hoped.

  On the table was the jelly jar filled with wildflower blooms he’d brought home yesterday.

  Lilin wondered at the happiness expanding in her chest.

  Thumping noises on the steps and porch. Archer’s home!

  A smile lit her face as she hurried to open the door. “I made dinner,” she said as soon as he walked in. “By myself.”

  He gave her one of his sexy grins after he closed the door. To her surprise, he caught her by the waist, brought her to him, and brushed his lips over hers. “Thank you,” he murmured against her mouth, and her knees nearly gave out on her.

  Wow. If he did that each time she had dinner waiting for him, she was going to prepare a meal every day.

  Archer drew away and she steadied herself by placing her palm on the entryway table. He took her free hand and led her to the kitchen where they sat at the table.

  If Archer was unhappy with dinner, he didn’t show it. He ate two big helpings of everything! She couldn’t help grinning as he ate.

  Later, when she started to prise spoonfuls of ice cream from the container into two dessert dishes, he didn’t laugh when she flung a chunk of ice cream across the kitchen. However, she did see amusement in his eyes when she squirted chocolate sauce on her face and hands instead of on what ice cream had made it into the cups.

  “Let me help.” He took her in his arms and licked sauce from her nose and cheeks. She shivered with every touch, every kiss, as he continued on to her palms and wrists. When he had licked every bit of chocolate off her, he leaned his back against the kitchen counter and brought her fully into his embrace. She tilted her face and looked into his eyes before he moved his mouth to hers.

  Six

  Lilin sank against Archer and moaned as he devoured her. He tasted of chocolate and male. Better than anything she remembered tasting. His scent — Goddess, he smelled good. Testosterone, sawdust from the work site, pine and fresh air from the outdoors.

  In all the time she’d lived with him, he hadn’t kissed her. He’d taught her, taken care of her, bought her clothes, and had done so much for her. He’d never pressed her for anything.

  In truth, she hadn’t been ready. She, a former Succubus, was not ready for sex as a mortal. The thought was so absurd she would have laughed if she weren’t so busy moaning at the things Archer was doing to her.

  He kissed her thoroughly, like no human male should be able to. His big hands stroked her body as if she was fragile. He eased his hands further down until he cupped her buttocks, squeezing and massaging them.

  His hardness pressed against her belly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The ache between her thighs was fierce and her breasts felt heavy. She wanted him now, more than anything she had ever wanted before.

  When he raised his head, his eyes were darker blue and his chest rose and fell faster than before. “I need a shower.”

  “I’m sticky from the chocolate.” She bit his lower lip. “I’ll join you.”

  “We’ll save water.” He slipped his tongue into her mouth then drew it out again. “Economical.”

  He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist and kept her arms tight around his neck as he carried her into his bedroom.

  Archer started the shower so the water would run warm. God, he’d wanted Lilin for so long. But he’d given her time to adjust and had given himself time to get to know her.

  She had to be from another world. Or raised by wolves. She’d been like a child needing to be taught almost everything. He enjoyed her delight in simple things, like the time he brought wildflowers home for her. She’d been so disappointed when the first flowers had wilted that he brought her bouquets almost daily.

  He finished adjusting the water’s temperature and found Lilin naked. As magical as if she were still a Succubus. The idea still seemed unbelievable, but everything about Lilin was unusual.

  She was so beautiful. Her silvery-blonde hair tumbled to her waist; her grey eyes were wide and innocent.

  He took her into his arms and felt the softness of her body through his clothing. When he kissed her, he lost himself in the moment, never wanting it to end. Only the pounding of water against marble reminded him of their shower.

  Archer stripped while she watched, and he tossed his clothing onto hers. Her eyes told him she wanted him, and that she was just as filled with desire as he.

  He led her beneath the spray, shielding her from the brunt of the hard blast until they got used to it. She laughed and tilted her chin so that the water sprayed her face before she turned her back to it. He reached for shampoo and squirted some on his hand before starting to soap then rinse her hair.

  When he finished he tilted her face so that their gazes met. He brushed his lips over hers before drawing back. “Everything about you is beautiful.”

  Lilin smiled, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him again. “You are beautiful.”

  He released her, picked up a sponge and poured gel on it to wash her body. His body ached as he touched her.

  Before soaping her breasts, he paused to suckle each of her nipples. Lilin moaned and gripped her hands in his hair.

  God, she tasted sweet.

  The crisp smell of soap didn’t mask her scent of desire as he knelt. He used the sponge to pay close attention to her belly, thighs, legs, each delicate foot. He turned her to face the spray and wash the soap from her body.

  Still on his knees, Archer nuzzled her soft mound. She fisted his hair tighter and cried out as he ran his tongue between her legs.

  “Goddess. Archer.” She pressed his face closer. Her legs trembled, her body tensed, and he knew she was close to flying towards the stars. A little more and she’d go supernova.

  He bit her lightly and she screamed. Her whole body shook and her face flushed with the power of her orgasm. When her legs gave out and she dropped into his arms he felt somehow triumphant — that he had brought her to her knees.

  He took her mouth in a fierce kiss, feeling a sense of ownership and protectiveness.

  “I don’t know if I can get up,” she whispered when he moved his mouth from hers.

  Archer smiled and kissed her lightly before drawing her up to stand. She pressed her face to his wet chest and gave a deep sigh. “I’ve never felt anything like that.” She tilted her face up. “I have few memories left, but I know that no man ever made me feel the way you do.”

  The thought of any other man with Lilin sent a stab of jealousy through his chest. Maybe it shouldn’t have, but he wanted her to think only of him, as if he was her first. His touch, his kiss, his hips between her thighs as he took her.

  And God, he needed to be inside her now.

  Even though she wanted to wash him as he had washed her, he refused and made short work of shampooing his hair and scrubbing his body with the sponge. After shutting off the water and climbing out of the shower, they dried off with a pair of towels.

  Archer picked her up and she dropped her towel before she wrapped her legs around his hips and held on to his shoulders. She kissed him as he strode across the room and they tumbled onto the bed. The need to be a part of her was so great he was in a fog of lust.

  Love.

  The word came out of nowhere, pressing against his mind. Could the feeling in his chest be love for Lilin?

  He touched her, kissed her, slid his hips between her thighs.

  “Wait,” she said, her voice hus
ky and her eyes heavy-lidded.

  “What, baby?” he murmured as he nibbled at her ear.

  She gave one of her sexy little moans. “The protection you said you wanted to use the last time I came to you.”

  Stunned at himself and his forgetfulness, Archer rose and looked down at Lilin, the first woman he wanted to take, screw the protection. He brushed his lips over hers. “Thank you,” he murmured.

  It took him all of ten seconds to reach into his nightstand drawer and pull out a condom package.

  When he was ready, he looked down at his Lilin. She was so beautiful. And she was so very much his.

  When he drove himself deep inside her, she cried out, “Oh, Goddess!” with the sound of pain in her voice.

  Archer went completely still. “You’re a virgin?”

  She looked as surprised as he did. “My memories aren’t clear any more.”

  He didn’t move. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” She smiled. “The way you fill me is wonderful.”

  And she was so tight. Her velvet core gripped him like a fist and he couldn’t move for a moment or he’d come.

  Slowly, he drew out, then slid back in. He didn’t want to hurt her.

  She dug her fingernails into his biceps. “More, Archer.”

  He gritted his teeth as he withdrew, then drove himself back inside her. Again he drew out slowly, then thrust into her. She made small cries and he nearly growled with the feelings of possessiveness that grabbed him.

  As he took her, Lilin’s body began to tremble, her thighs shaking against his hips. Her lips were parted, her eyes glazed and her moans louder.

  While he continued to make love to her, he waited. Waited. Waited. Holding back his own orgasm.

  He drove in again. She arched her back and screamed. Her body rocked and writhed beneath him. Her core clamped so hard on him that he lost it. He shouted and pressed his hips tight against her as she continued to contract around him and his throbbing seemed to go on forever.

  Finally he collapsed, barely rolling to the side in time to keep his weight from crushing her petite frame.

  For a long time they held one another, her head against his chest, their breathing deep and ragged, him still inside her.

  When he had the strength, he started kissing her forehead, inhaling her special scent and feeling incredible warmth deep in his heart and soul.

  He brushed her wet hair away from her face with his fingertips. She lifted her head to look at him and smiled. Such an innocent, sweet, genuine smile. Nothing like the sultry, experienced look she’d given him when she’d been a Succubus.

  Archer no longer doubted his sanity - or hers.

  And now he’d lost his heart to this sweet woman in his arms. He wanted to show her the world and then give it to her.

  Give everything to her.

  The vision of a clear stone slipped through his mind. He drew away from Lilin and rolled out of bed.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, sounding concerned. “Archer?”

  Confusion clouded Archer’s mind, but he knew he had to go to his drawer. “Wait.”

  He reached his bureau, opened his sock drawer, and dug through it. His fingers finally touched something round and hard, hidden in one of his socks. When he returned to the bed, he shook the sock out over the mattress. An enormous diamond slipped out of it. Archer’s eyes widened, and so did Lilin’s.

  Where had it come from and why had he just remembered having it?

  He grasped the stone in his hand - and everything came back in a rush so fast he nearly collapsed.

  Every memory of being an Incubus, every woman he had ever taken. And Queen Rusalka with her fierce beauty and even fiercer temper. She’d been pissed with him when he’d said no to becoming one of her concubines. He’d never expected her to make him human.

  The Queen had given him the stone so that every now and then he would remember what he had lost - an immortal life and the ability to bed any woman he wanted, every night if he chose to. But he had to be holding the diamond to remember. A little while after he parted with it, his memories would be gone again.

  But with the stone he could also call to the Queen and beg to have his old life back.

  He looked from the diamond to his beautiful Lilin. He would give her the stone, allowing her to remember her past - and return to the Unseelie Court.

  His heart in his throat, he placed the diamond in her hand and folded her fingers around it. “My gift to you.”

  Immediately, shock registered on Lilin’s features as she held the stone, and her eyes darted back and forth as if she was watching a ping-pong match.

  “I could return,” Lilin whispered. “The Queen would take me back.”

  It hit him like a blow to the chest. Lilin might leave. She would go back to the Queen and she would forget he existed.

  And he would never forget her.

  In that single crystal-clear moment he realized how much she had come to mean to him over the period of time he’d known her.

  He didn’t want to lose her.

  Archer was on the verge of grabbing her, taking her into his arms and holding her tight so she could never leave him. Then she blinked as if coming back to reality and looked at him for a long moment.

  His words and his breath caught in his throat as she took the sock he had hidden the diamond in, and slipped the stone inside so that it dropped to the toe.

  Lilin handed it to Archer and smiled. “I choose to live a mortal life if it means I can be with you.” She bit her lower lip before adding, “If you’ll have me.”

  The relief was so great it stunned him.

  “Will I have you?” Archer tossed the sock-covered diamond over his shoulder and it landed on the floor with a thump. “Does that answer your question?” He planned to take that damned stone and bury it in the landfill first thing in the morning.

  She grinned and flung her arms around his neck. “I think I love you, Archer.”

  “I know I love you, Lilin.” Archer couldn’t keep the love out of his smile and voice as he looked down at her. “And I’m never letting you go.”

  Paranormal Romance Blues

  Kelley Armstrong

  “When I said I was in the mood for a meat market, I meant that metaphorically. I don’t actually want to be anyone’s dinner.”

  Tiffany rolled her eyes. “It’s not that kind of vampire bar, Mel.”

  “What other kind is there? It’s for vampires. What do they drink? Blood. And we’re their primary suppliers of that beverage. Ergo ...”

  If she rolled her eyes any higher, they’d disappear into her skull. As I sipped my beer, I overheard a guy at the bar talking about women and not-so-discreetly jerking his chin our way. Cute guy, too. Hmm.

  “I’ll take the blonde,” he said to his friend. “You can have the brunette.”

  “No, I want the blonde.”

  It was always nice to be argued over. Too bad I was the one they were arguing over not wanting. There are distinct disadvantages to being a half-demon with super-charged hearing.

  “So this vampire bar,” Tiffany tried again. “It’s for dating. It’s not easy being a vampire, you know. You think you have dating issues? Try being immortal.”

  “They are only semi-immortal. And why would I want to date one?”

  “Uh, because they’re hot.”

  Sure, if you went for tall, dark and parasitic. I gulped the rest of my beer. Sadly, it didn’t make anyone in the bar look better.

  And, considering the only guy glancing my way was at least sixty, apparently the booze wasn’t doing the trick for them either.

  I signalled the bartender for a refill. Even he ignored me.

  “Hello?” Tiffany waved her hand in front of my face. “Earth to Melanie. Can we blow this joint please? The vampire bar is calling. Hot guys who’ve been waiting centuries to meet you.”

  I snorted.

  “Oh, come on,” she said. “Don’t you find it the least bit romantic?
A creature of the night, tormented by the emptiness of his life, searching for that one special woman, knowing if he doesn’t find her in time, he’ll be condemned to eternity as a soulless monster.”

  “That’s a book.”

  She frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “Yep.”

  “Fine, but they still need to find their true love, the one bright flame that will warm their cold existence.”

  “Book. More than one, I think.”

  “Forget romance. They need sex. It’s like Red Bull for vampires, boosting their powers to unimaginable heights. They need lots of it, in every way, shape and form imaginable, including a few you haven’t imagined.”

  “Book,” I said. “I hope.”

  “Maybe, but they’re still tormented creatures of the night—”

  “They can walk around in daylight.”

  “No way.”

  “Yep. I’m not even all that sure about the tormented part. Sure, they have to drink blood and take one life a year, but once they work past that, they get a long life, eternal youth, near invulnerability and conga lines of swooning women fighting to get into their beds, eager to prove they’ll be their ‘one true love’. What’s not to like?”

  She slumped in her chair, a sigh whistling out.

  “Maybe we can find you a tormented one,” I said.

  “How do you know so much about vampires anyway?”

  “Wallace.”

  She winced. “Sorry.”

  Wallace was my latest ex, and the cause of the self-imposed celibacy I was now eager to break. Tall, dark and tormented fitted Wallace perfectly. He hadn’t been a vampire, though not for lack of trying. A Vodoun priest with an inferiority complex, Wallace had been obsessed with the undead. Our relationship ended the day I walked in to find him shooting up with black market vampire blood.

  I wish I could say Wallace had been a blip in an otherwise healthy love life, but he was only the latest in a string of losers. Dating fellow supernaturals solved a lot of problems, and opened up a whole bunch more.