Chapter Six

Ryker.

That was surprisingly anticlimactic. Marcus squealed like a pig and told us everything we asked and more. We gave him a little cocktail to put him back to sleep, and Gabe and Drew are dropping him off a few blocks away from where we picked him up. If all goes well, he should wake up, find his driver and be home before morning.

I'm walking Emma to her car, and I don't want to say goodnight. Today is the first I've seen her since the tour of the offices, and I've missed her like crazy.

"Want to go get a drink?" I try to play it cool.

She shakes her head, but I don't give up. "Then just come home with me."

She looks surprised and turns to study my face. I brush a piece of hair back from her forehead and run my thumb down her cheek.

"I don't think I should, Ryker."

"Why?" I tilt her head up and force her to look at me. "Give me one good reason."

"I'm a vampire, and you're a human." She frowns, like that displeases her.

"That's not a good reason." I stroke her cheek before wrapping one hand around the back of her neck and pulling her closer. I could just lean down and kiss her, but I resist.

"We're working together and shouldn't get our lines crossed." She glances down at my lips, and her tongue darts out to lick her bottom lip.

"Also not a good enough reason for me to stay away from you." I lean down so our lips are just a breath away.

"We're from different worlds and there's no way this could ever go anywhere," she says quietly, and a sadness appears in her eyes.

"I know that, but fuck if I don't want you anyway." I plant my lips on hers and bend her back a little to pour all of my conflicting emotions and overwhelming lust into the kiss.

She responds with fervor and opens for me, I slip my tongue into her mouth and taste her. She moans and leans into me. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her flush against my body, rubbing my throbbing cock against her stomach.

Fuck, this woman could wreck me. The thought doesn't even give me pause as I continue to ravage her mouth. I can't take 'no' for an answer.

I pull back suddenly. "Not for forever. Just for right now. Tonight. Come home with me."

She looks conflicted, but nods, and I kiss her again. It's been far too long since I've kissed her sweet lips, felt her soft silky skin, tasted her hot pussy, and I feel like I'm going to die if I don't get inside her soon.

I don't want to let her drive separately because there's a chance she'll change her mind, but she insists, promising that she'll meet me at my house. I drive there in record time, and she's right behind me.

I run up the sidewalk, throw open the door to let her in, and then slam it closed and push her against it. My mouth finds hers immediately, and we're tearing at each other's clothes.

She's naked in front of me, and I drop to my knees to worship her. I run my hands up her thighs and part her legs. Her hands grip my head as I lick the crease of her groin. I spread her lips and give each side a long lick. I spear my tongue into her. She gasps and her back arches, giving me better access.

She's so fucking sweet. I could eat her out all day. I have other plans though, but not until she comes on my face. I lick up her folds to her clit and slowly circle around it before taking it in my mouth and sucking hard. She cries out, so I do it again, this time giving it a little nip with my teeth.

Her grip on my head tightens and her hips buck until she's fucking my face. I continue my onslaught while she screams my name and convulses with her juices flooding my tongue. I lick her clean until she goes limp.

I stand up quickly to catch her and lift her up, wrapping her legs around my waist and pushing her back into the door.

"No passing out," I growl. "I'm not nearly done with you."

"I'm not–" she gasps as I rub my cock against her clit. "I'm not passing out."

I stroke her folds with my cock until she's moaning and wriggling in my arms. "Please, Ryker. Please, fuck me. I need to feel you."

I push into her slowly and then pull back out. She whimpers at the loss. I slam back into her, and she cries out.

I love that I'm able to take her bare without having to worry about anything. It's a definite bonus to fucking a vampire.

I love that she's so responsive to me. It's like her body was made just for me.

I love everything about being with her.

I'm completely consumed by her, lost in a sea of lust and need. The burning desire to satisfy her is the only thing that keeps me from spilling my load as soon as I fill her sweet heat.

"Fuck, baby, you're so tight." I groan as I hold steady inside her, giving her a minute to adjust to my size. "I don't know how I've lasted this long without feeling you again. I think you like torturing me. Don't you, my little cock tease?"

She moans and squirms, trying to get leverage to stroke herself on my cock, but I hold her still. "Yes, Ryker. I like torturing you, okay? I love knowing how much you want me. I'm here now. Take me. Fuck me."

Her confession pushes me past my breaking point, and I can't hold back as I start slamming into her. With her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms wrapped around my neck, I hold her against the front door and pound into her with everything I have. The house could be on fire right now and I wouldn't know, and I wouldn't care. Nothing matters outside of Emma.

"Fuck, woman you're amazing." I kiss her neck, her jaw, her lips. "I never want to stop fucking you."

"Then don't." She clenches around my cock, and I groan. "Don't stop fucking me."

"I can't help it. You feel too good. I'm going to come." I reach down and rub her clit. Trying to push her over the edge before me.

"Yes, Ryker, fuck yes. Me too. I'm going to come," she gasps, and her pussy trembles around me.

"Come, Emma, I need to feel you." I pinch her clit, and she comes undone around me, screaming and shaking as she rides out the orgasm. I hold off as long as I can, but pretty soon I'm thrusting deep and filling her.

I stand like that for a minute to catch my breath before turning and walking towards the bathroom. I turn on the shower and step in. Emma slides down my body, and when I'm sure she's steady on her feet, I release her.

We take turns washing each other and then we get out and towel off.

"You're quiet," I say to her as I take her hand and pull her towards my bed.

"So are you," she replies.

I hadn't even realized until now that neither of us had spoken, I was just enjoying being with her.

I toss back the covers and motion for her to get into bed. She does without hesitation. I follow her, and pull her back against me so I'm spooning her. I've never spooned before, but I decide I like it. With Emma, I suspect I like most things.

"I'm glad you washed your sheets, finally."

I laugh and tickle her side until she's laughing too.

"You have a beautiful laugh," I tell her. "I wish I could hear it more often."

She goes still in my arms. "I meant what I said, Ryker. You know we can't have more. It's not possible."

I turned her towards me and brush the hair back from her face. "It doesn't have to be like that. Can't we just be together and enjoy each other for a while? For however long we want? Does it have to have lines and definitions and rules? Can't we just be?"

She studies my eyes, which I have no doubt show nothing but sincerity and hopefulness. "It's more complicated than that. If The Community finds out, they'll kill you."

"Why?" I frown. "Other vampires have human lovers."

"I'm not other vampires." She snaps her mouth closed like she didn't mean to say this.

"What do you mean by that?" It's my turn to study her eyes.

"Technically relations with humans are forbidden, but it's mostly ignored," she tells me.

She's hesitant and definitely not telling me something. I remain quiet and wait for the truth.

She begins speaking quietly. "I walk a thin line between conformance and rebellion in the house. There are many that are wary and even threatened by me. It's a miracle I haven't gotten myself killed yet. If they trace you to the office and find out you're a vampire hunter, you're dead. If they decide they want to keep me in line, you're dead. If they get pissed off at me for any reason..."

"I'm dead." I nod. "I get it."

"I won't do that. I can't live like that." She buries her face in my chest, and I barely make out the quiet, muffled, "I'm sorry."

"You're not living at all," I say as my anger rises. Not being able to see her because it'll upset a bunch of vampires really pisses me off.

Her head snaps up. "Excuse me?"

"I said you're not living." I want to get up and pace the room as my anger starts to boil in my veins, but I force myself to stay still and hold her since this may be my last chance to do so. "You spend half your time chasing a ghost and the other half studying economics or foreign languages. When do you live? What do you do just for you?"

"Don't pretend to know me," she snaps and starts to pull away, but I hold onto her.

"I'd like to know you," I confess softly. "That's the point."

"Ryker." She stops resisting and relaxes back into me. She looks so sad and regretful, and I want to take away all her pain. "I'm sorry. I wish none of this had happened. I wish I was a normal girl. I wish I could be what you need me to be."

"Don't say that." I shake my head. "I wouldn't give up any of this for anything in the world. And if you were a normal girl, you would've died a hundred years ago, and I'd have never met you."

She slaps my chest softly. "I'm not that old."

"How old are you?" I pull her back to me, so her head is lying on my chest.

"Twenty-two." She smiles against my chest but then it's gone again. "Or, at least, I was. I was born in nineteen twenty-three. I died a couple of months after I turned twenty-two."

"Is that why you don't usually celebrate your birthday?" I rub my hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her in what I know will be a hard subject for her to talk about. But I want her to talk. I want her to open up and trust me. I want to hear about her ghosts and her life. I want to know her.

"No." She shakes her head and wraps her arm around my waist. "I don't celebrate my birthday because of what happened a few years before. June fourth, nineteen forty-two."

I rack my brain for World War II history information and then take a half-guess. "Midway?"

She nods and buries her face in my chest again. I think maybe I've pushed too far and the topic is closed, but then she starts talking quietly.

"I spent my birthday sorting through broken bodies and scrambling to save anyone we could. I had never seen anything like it. I was one of the few nurses that enlisted before Pearl Harbor, but I was on the other side of the country when it happened, so I didn't see the wreckage directly. When Midway happened, I thought that would be the worst thing that would ever happen to me."

Her hand starts tracing random patterns on my back. "And then, there was D-day. It was the first time nurses were put right on the front lines. We dug trenches and pulled the injured soldiers into the trench to treat them."

She lets out a barely audible whimper. "I had nightmares about Midway until D-day. Then I had nightmares about D-day."

I stay silent and continue to gently stroke her back, trying not to push but letting her know I'm here.

"I thought I'd gotten a good break when I was sent to that medical facility. There wasn't any fighting nearby, and most of the soldiers we took care of walked out or at least got sent home." She pauses, and her body begins to shake. "Then they came. He liked me. He said my hair looked like an angel's, and I was special. So he tied me to a chair and made me watch. I tried to close my eyes, but they taped them open. I watched everything for days and days. My friends, women I'd worked with and lived with for years, treated like animals."

Her shaking becomes more prominent. I have no idea if vampires cry or get cold, but I'm not stupid enough to ask right now. I pull the blankets up over us and wrap my body around her. She stays quiet again for another minute.

"When everyone else was dead, I thought that was it. I thought it was my turn to be... be..." She makes a choking noise and can't get the words out.

I shush her and stroke her hair.

"But he just turned me and then left. I don't know how long I was dead. When I woke up, I didn't remember anything at first. I wandered around, looking for help. Then, I stumbled upon the aftermath of Hiroshima."

My hand stills in her hair. Jesus Christ, could her story honestly get worse after that? My heart aches for her.

"I tried to help, but I was a new vampire and couldn't control my thirst. I bit a woman and killed her. I can still taste the radiation in her blood, feel her heart stop beating, hear her screams. I won't ever do that again. After, I ran and ran. I was out of my mind with thirst when Everlee found me and took me to The Community. The only blessing is that vampires don't have dreams, so I don't have to relive any of that shit in my nightmares anymore. But I still relive it all in my memories."

"Emma, I need you to listen to me now, okay?"

She looks up at me, and when I'm sure I have her full attention, I take a deep breath, kiss her forehead and lay it out for her.

"I am honored that you trust me enough to tell me your story. I can't tell you what that means to me. I'm so sorry you went through all that. The horrors you've seen cannot be erased with time or revenge. I would take away every ounce of your pain if I had the power. You deserve to be happy, and you deserve to live your life, and you deserve to be loved. I know you might reject it and push me out of your life. But I don't know that I can ever quit trying and quit pushing, because I'm falling in love with you."

She lets out a little gasp, and her eyes widen. She starts to shake her head and pull away. I can see the panic in her eyes.

"I know you're not ready, and I know you want to run screaming right now." I bring my hand up to cup her cheek. "But you came home with me tonight, and I'm asking you to hold off on the panicking until tomorrow. Give me tonight. Let me love you."

I lean forward and brush my lips against hers. She doesn't pull away, so I kiss her again, soft light kisses against her lips, her upper lip, the corners of her mouth.

When I kiss her bottom lip she sighs, and her lips part. I take the invitation and kiss her more deeply. She moans and leans into me. I lie on my back and pull her on top of me. She surprises me by reaching down and stroking my cock, which is already half hard, just from kissing her. Her hand has me rock hard in no time, and she shifts, lines us up and pushes down onto me. I groan as she sheaths me completely.

"You are so fucking perfect." My hands roam up her waist and cup her breasts. I raise up to lick and suck her nipples as she lifts herself up and slides back down my cock.

She finds a comfortable rhythm and rides me.

I take her hand and put it between her legs. "Touch yourself for me, baby. Get yourself off on me."

She starts rubbing her clit while she strokes herself up and down on my cock.

"That's so fucking hot." I have to force myself to stay still and not take over. "I love watching you come. I want to see you make yourself come on my cock."

She starts to lose rhythm and she quivers, and I know she's close. I reach up and squeeze her breasts before rubbing her nipples between my fingers.

"Fuck!" She screams as her orgasm consumes her. She bucks wildly and thrusts over and over again as her body spasms and shakes. She finally collapses onto my chest, and I rub her back before rolling us both over so I'm on top of her.

I take my time. First, I just kiss her. Long, lazy kisses. Possessive, passionate kisses. Then, I start to stroke in and out of her slow and deep. I kiss down her neck to her shoulders. I kiss each breast in turn, licking and sucking and nipping at her.

Her hips start moving in time to mine, but I don't speed up. If this is going to be my last time with her, then I'm going to take my fucking time and enjoy every second as I make love to her and completely ruin us both.

"Ryker, faster," she encourages me, but I refuse to be rushed.

"No, baby." I kiss her lips. "Feel it. Feel me."

I kiss her cheeks and her jaw and the sweet curve of her neck. I can't stop kissing her and tasting her. I want it all and more. I nip and suck on her shoulder, and as she clenches around my cock, I know she's getting close.

"Don't come yet," I command.

"I can't stop it." Her hips arch up into mine with each thrust. Her eyes plead with me.

"Yes, you can." I kiss her lips again. "Wait. It'll be worth it, I promise."

I can feel my orgasm creeping up my spine, and I have to force myself to keep my strokes slow and deep, savoring every inch of her. I look down our bodies and see the point where we're connected. I watch her pussy swallow me. It's the sexiest thing I've ever seen. I glance back up to her face to see her watching it too.

Her movements become irregular, and she's spasming around my cock. I know I can't hold it anymore.

I wrap my arms around her and stare down into her eyes. "Come, Emma."

And she does. Her face transforms with pleasure as she screams and her whole body quivers.

I wait until she's coming down from her orgasm before I thrust myself deep inside her and fill her again.

I collapse on top of her and roll to my side, taking her with me. I don't pull out. I want to keep the connection with her for a little bit longer. I want to tell her to stay with me. I want to tell her that I love her. I stay quiet, because I know words won't change anything.

As I drift asleep, my last thought is of how pissed off I'm going to be when I wake up alone, because I know I will.