Everything about the moment was like a drug to Vail. His senses were overwhelmed by Lady Victoria—the taste of her rich blood, the smell of her pheromones, the sound of her breathy voice, the touch of her soft skin, even the sight of her bare flesh. No matter which perception he relied on, he enjoyed the sensations that came with it, and he sank into all of it like a shot of cocaine. He could tell she was enjoying herself too, perhaps just as much as he was, judging by the rapid pounding of her heart that he could hear inside her supple chest. Somehow, knowing that pleased him. He liked being able to draw these strong reactions out of such a beautiful woman with just a stroke of his fingers, and he relished the control he had over how the encounter was to go at all.

As Victoria brushed her leg against his side, Vail shuddered excitedly. He wasn’t sure if she was toying with him or if the motion had been involuntary, but it was enough to get his own heartrate up. He let his hands fall away from her wrists—she seemed calm enough that he didn’t have to worry about any sudden outbursts—to instead grip her round hips as he drank the blood that seeped from her waist. Though he had made the deal with her to feed on her essence, he couldn’t help that he liked the other perks that came with it. Having such an attractive Lady at his mercy appealed to his primal side in a way that mere hunting couldn’t by itself.

If he was honest, he wanted even [i]more[/i] of her, but he restrained himself from pushing. She had agreed to give him her blood, nothing more. Besides that, there was a part of him that was leery of getting attached to her beyond his draw to the drug in her veins. If he let her get closer to him outside of their predator-prey relationship, everything would just be unnecessarily complicated. She was a human, a mortal whom was destined to die when her brief life faded. He didn’t want to risk growing intimate with her and opening the door to any complex emotions that would make him more connected to her than he already was. It was better if he let his addiction to her remain solely with her blood, so their inevitable part would be easier to bear.

When the flow of her wound finally tapered off, Vail lifted his head, tracing his lips with his tongue to collect some of what hadn’t reached his mouth. Even though he had just fed on her three nights ago, her essence was just as satisfying to him as it had been the last time. He shifted on the lounge to sit upright, letting her slender legs rest across his lap. His gaze swept over her again as he followed the curves of her body, and he rested his hand on her midriff to help her slow the blood that still trickled from the puncture wounds he’d inflicted.

Despite his hesitation to get close to Victoria, he was letting her in more than he realized. The more time they spent together, the more comfortable he felt around her. There was even a bit of protectiveness that had begun to build up inside of him. As selfish as it was, he wanted her all to himself, both to feed on and talk to as he pleased. He didn’t yet realize the depth of his attachment to her though.