He was completely unprepared for his body’s reaction to her bite.

Paradise. It was the only way he could describe it. Like an electric current, a tingling warmth spread to every cell in his body, coiled around his spine and settled in his groin. His entire being buzzed with awareness.

Despite the bathrobe she wore, he could feel her body as if she was naked on his lap. Sparks seemed to jump from her body to his, like little electrical charges dancing between them. But there was still too much space between their bodies.

“Straddle me,” he whispered into her ear. Without protest, she shifted, and he helped her move her legs to either side of his hips. For an instant, he wondered whether it was right to exploit the situation like he did, but it was too late: he wanted her as close as he could possibly get her. His body was craving hers.

With every ounce of blood she took from him, the euphoria in his mind increased. He’d never felt such freedom, such lightness, such bliss. Not a care in the world touched him. Loneliness was a word of the past. Pain might as well have been a Chinese word for he had no comprehension of the concept.

He buried his hand in her hair and held her to his neck, not wanting her to stop. His erection pressed against her, and she surely had to notice it, but she didn’t pull away. He slid his other hand to the base of her spine and fanned his fingers. The light pressure he exerted was enough for her to respond: she moved to align her core with his hard length and rubbed against him.

Gabriel couldn’t stop the loud moan from escaping his lips. He took a deep breath and inhaled her scent. Maya smelled of pure woman, ripe and aroused. He knew from his own feedings from humans—before he’d started on bottled blood—how sexually arousing it could be to drink directly from someone’s vein. If he were a gentleman, he would ignore her arousal, stop pressing her against him and not take advantage. But the last thing on his mind right now was behaving like a gentleman.

Hell, he desired her, had from the moment he’d first seen her. Could anybody blame him for taking this little slice of heaven and enjoying it for as long as she wouldn’t resist? For as long as she was too blood-drugged to care who was shamelessly rubbing his cock against her warm center?

The pressure in his balls built, and he knew he would have to stop holding her this tightly before he made a complete idiot out of himself and came in his boxer shorts. But not yet. He needed to feel her a little while longer before he would go back to his bed, alone, only with her scent still clinging to him, and the ghost of her soft body pressed to his. Then he would touch himself and imagine it was her soft hand stroking him, and not his own rough calloused one that squeezed him tightly until he would release his seed, pretending he flooded her warm sheath with it.

Too soon, he felt her pull away and remove her fangs from his neck. He wanted to hold her back, tell her to continue, but he knew he couldn’t. When he looked into her eyes as she faced him, he knew she was sated. Her face looked fuller, her skin glowed, and her eyes had a brilliant sheen to them. She’d never looked more beautiful to him.

“Thank you,” she whispered and dropped her gaze as if she was ashamed of what she’d done.

“My pleasure,” he answered and meant it. “You’ll have to feed from me daily.”

She raised her eyes to look straight at him. “But I … I mean you can’t—”

“Your body clearly needs it. We all feed daily,” he insisted. It was the truth, but nevertheless, he felt like a thief—knowing he’d steal this pleasure from her every day.

“I can’t just take from you without giving anything in return. It’s not right,” she claimed, proving to him that she had more integrity than he could ever muster.

“If it’s the only thing you can drink, then that’s what it’s going to be. You’ll feed from me. And you don’t owe me anything.” She’d already given him more than she could ever imagine. Just knowing that he would get to hold her every day when she fed from him was more than he could ever wish for.

“But I want to give you something in exchange; I can’t just eat for free. It would just be like paying for dinner.”

He smiled at her comparison. He had more money than he knew what to do with. There was nothing he wanted. Except maybe …

“A kiss,” he blurted before he could stop himself. When he saw her reaction, he instantly wanted to take it back. Her eyes widened in surprise, and her lips parted as if she wanted to make a snide remark. Then her gaze zeroed in on the right side of his face where his scar marred his skin.