“I think you tried to,” Vail chuckled when Victoria spoke of sucking his blood. Really, he found it flattering that she had been so overwhelmed by him that she had felt the need to bite his neck. He could also feel scratches in the skin along his back where her nails had dug into his flesh. His eyes wandered to the spot above her collarbone where he had cut her as well, and he smiled amusedly to himself. They had both been quite rough with each other, but the sting of fingers and teeth breaking the skin in uncontrollable pleasure had just made the experience all the more thrilling. The smell of blood in the air certainly helped too—his own mixed faintly with hers from a particular scratch that had been just deep enough to trickle. He couldn’t think of another time when his senses had been so flooded with euphoria.

When Victoria trailed his fingers lightly over his chest, Vail reached up to rest his hand over hers, holding it down as he decided he liked it there. Her following words stroked his ego, and a toothy grin brightened his features. He had already known that she had enjoyed herself—the moans and screams that escaped her lips had been proof enough of that—but hearing her confirm it out loud made him puff up just a little more. It had been over a century since the last time he’d slept with a woman of his own kind, and he’d never been with a human before, so it pleased him to know that she thought he had been [i]truly amazing[/i]. High praise indeed.

As she asked if he could stay longer, he considered her request. He had no place to be at the moment, since the rest of his family was operating on a daylight schedule, and it was unlikely they would notice he was still gone. He wasn’t concerned about shortchanging himself on sleep either, since he had reverted to waking at night recently. Even though he was tired from the haze of his lingering bliss, he just wanted a nap rather than full hours of rest. Plus, Lady Crest’s wide, endearing eyes were tempting all by themselves. As long as he returned before dawn, he could go on at the manor as if nothing had happened.

“I don’t,” he answered, absently running his hand down the curve of her side. He wanted to pull her closer to himself again, but now that the heat had died down, it was harder for him to work up the nerve. He found it strange how easily he had leapt to ravage her body in the most intimate way a man could have a woman, yet simple gestures were still difficult for him to initiate. Perhaps it was due to the motivation. When he had taken control to have his way with her, he’d been driven by primal, thoughtless urges and a need for physical satisfaction. On the contrary, the act of an embrace was much more tender and, in a way, vulnerable. To do so would be to admit to both himself and Victoria that he was developing feelings for her. The thought made him swallow nervously.

Still, it didn’t change the fact that she was what he wanted. So, forcing down his hesitation, he draped his arm across her middle, his hazel eyes dancing up from her body to meet her crystalline blue gaze. “I’m fine to stay, but what about you?” he queried. “It seems to me like you’re not going to get any sleep tonight if you don’t go home soon.”