Conclave (Vampire Conclave: Book 3), page 5
“I’m going to kiss you now,” Julian says as he slowly moves his head closer to mine. The self-loathing I saw in his eyes just a moment ago has vanished, only to be replaced with a burning desire to finally lay claim to my body and satisfy both of our needs. “And I probably won’t stop kissing you for a very long time.”
“Promises, promises,” I tease, unable to suppress an excited smile just before his lips touch mine.
Julian’s kiss isn’t gentle, and I don’t want it to be. It’s filled with an urgency to finally consummate our relationship and fulfill a promise of sexual pleasures. Even as we feel the first warm drops of rain fall from the sky, neither of us lets the other one go. For one, I’m not sure I have the willpower to stop kissing Julian long enough to bother with the rain. Besides, it’s just water. I can deal with getting a little wet if it means I don’t have to stop kissing the man I love.
It’s only when the drizzle becomes a torrential downpour that Julian lifts his head from mine. Before I can protest about the kiss ending too quickly, he wraps his arms around me and flies us into the air. The rain pummels us as we make our way across the lake, and I breathe a sigh of relief when we reach the safety of the back porch.
“I’ll be inside in just a moment,” Julian says as he leans over to kiss my rain-slicked lips.
I would protest, but I know what he needs to do. He needs to retract the bones of his wings back into his body and slough off the skin and blood stretched over them.
“The bedroom is upstairs, second door on the right,” I tell him. “I’ll be waiting.”
“I promise I won’t take long,” he tells me before walking off the porch and back into the storm to find a spot to shed his wings.
I walk into the house expecting to find Nadia and Viktor waiting for me, but instead, I find a note.
We went out to get you some food. Be back in a couple of hours. Hope that’s enough time.
* * *
– Nadia
* * *
P.S. Since I still have your keys, I plan to run by your apartment to grab you some extra clothes and essentials.
I hastily throw the note back onto the dining table, silently thanking Nadia for having the forethought and decency to give Julian and me some privacy for our first time together. Although I have my doubts that two hours will be long enough for us to finish.
I quickly make my way up the staircase and into the master bedroom. Once I get there, I turn on one of the brass lamps on the nightstand beside the Queen Anne bed to give the room a soft warm glow. I walk into the bathroom and peel my wet clothes off until I’m completely naked. I grab one of the soft white bath towels stored in the cabinet of the vanity and wrap it around my torso, even though I’m confident I won’t be wearing it for very long. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror above the sink and notice that my cheeks are flushed and my lips are slightly swollen and red from Julian’s kiss.
“Why are you so nervous?” I ask my reflection, realizing for the first time that I have butterflies warring inside my stomach, making me feel like a virgin again.
I try to shake off my nervousness as I make my way back into the bedroom to turn down the white quilt and sheets covering the bed. Just as I’m tossing the extra decorative pillows onto a nearby armchair, Julian strolls into the room like a man on a mission. His naked torso glistens with fresh raindrops, making his body shimmer like an apparition in the dim light of the room. With determined strides, he walks straight up to me and pulls me into his arms, continuing our kiss with the same fervor as before. I can only assume he read the note Nadia left on the dining table because he didn’t even bother to close the bedroom door behind him.
My anxiety over making love to Julian for the first time suddenly vanishes as a penetrating carnal need takes its place. I swiftly pull the towel I’m wearing off while Julian makes quick work of shedding his pants and shoes, all the while maintaining the contact between our lips. Once we’re both fully naked, Julian grabs me roughly by the back of the thighs and easily lifts me up just enough to gently toss me onto the bed, breaking the contact of our lips with the action.
As Julian continues to stand on the side of the bed, I watch as his gaze slowly travels the length of my body, causing the hunger that was already present in his eyes to burn white hot.
“How can anyone be so beautiful?” he asks me, his voice husky with an all-consuming desire we both share. “Sometimes I look at you and wonder if you’re just a dream because I never could have imagined someone so perfect actually existing in the real world.”
I smile after hearing his words because I remember thinking the exact same thing earlier in the day while we were driving here. Since Julian is taking his sweet time to etch my state of undress into his memory, I allow myself the same privilege with him. When my eyes dip below his waist, my breathing quickens at the sight of his arousal, and my need to have him inside me reaches a fever pitch. I reach out an arm to Julian, beckoning him closer.
“If you don’t make love to me right this instant,” I tell him urgently, “I may lose my mind.”
Without needing any more encouragement than that, Julian crawls onto the bed, pressing his body down on top of mine, but using his arms and legs to make sure I’m not crushed by his weight. On instinct, I reach down between us and take hold of him with one hand, gently guiding him to exactly where he needs to be. Julian seems to understand that I don’t want any more foreplay. He gave me plenty of that earlier in the kitchen today. Right now, all I want—all I need—is to feel him inside me and finally end my physical torture.
With one quick thrust of his hips, Julian enters me and leans his head down to ravage my mouth with his own. I seriously doubt this is the way he saw this moment playing out. He’s such a romantic I feel sure he intended to gently coax my body into readiness with his lips, tongue, and fingers, but gentle isn’t what I want. He can be gentle with me afterwards. Right now, I want to feel him bury himself so deeply inside me that we both get lost in the sensation and act on primal instinct alone.
Julian begins to vibrate inside me as his thrusts become more urgent. The warm feel of his body joined with mine and the knowledge of how much he loves me becomes too much to handle all at once. I lose myself as I’m consumed by a large pool of warm liquid ecstasy, causing me to moan so loud the sound of my pleasure reverberates against the walls of the room. Even after I begin my descent back to earth, Julian continues to thrust inside me, and I feel like a feather that’s instantly caught on a draft of wind, spiraling upward once again toward the heavens and finding pleasure a second time in the span of only a few seconds. As I continue to float above the clouds, I end up begging Julian to join me so our bodies can finally become one heartbeat, one soul. Julian cries out my name as he finds his release. I can’t help but smile in satisfaction as he rests his forehead against my shoulder, breathing heavily from the fiery intensity of our first love making experience together.
I’ve never felt more content with my life than I do in this moment. To say I’m happy would be the understatement of a lifetime. I feel complete and utterly loved by the man I’m with. I feel as though every event in my life, good and bad, has been leading me up to this precise moment and all of my fantasies of meeting the one man who could make me feel whole has finally come true. I feel more alive than I ever have in my entire existence, and I know there’s no way I will ever willingly let the man in my arms go.
Once Julian has his breathing back under control, he lifts his head from my shoulder and looks down to meet my gaze.
“That was …” he falters, desperately searching for the right word to say next, “incredible. I’ve never felt anything like that before in my life, Sarah, not even when I was human.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I reply, feeling rather smug after hearing Julian’s words. “I thought it was pretty incredible too.”
“I would ask if I hurt you,” he says, “but since you’re feeling so happy and relaxed, I know I didn’t. I had intended to take it slow with you this first time.”
I lift my hands to his face as I shake my head.
“I didn’t want slow,” I tell him, feeling the need between my legs begin to grow hungry once more, even though Julian hasn’t withdrawn from me yet. “And I don’t want slow now. I want you to take me to that place again and not let up until I beg you to join me.”
As Julian begins to slowly move his hips, I can feel him grow large inside me again, more than willing to comply with my rather greedy demands.
“Don’t you dare be gentle,” I order firmly. “Not until I ask you to be.”
Julian lets out a guttural moan of pleasure after hearing my demand and begins to thrust even harder inside me, shaking the very foundation of my reality.
For a very long time, Julian makes me wonder yet again if he’s just a dream or perhaps a fanciful figment of my sexual imagination. In the end, I realize he has to be real because you can’t give your heart, body, and soul to a dream.
I lay in bed facing Julian, trailing the tips of my fingers down the center of his chest all the way down to his belly button. I allow my thoughts to drift between various pleasurable moments from the last couple of hours, feeling as though I’ve just stepped into a fairytale of my own making.
“What are you thinking about?” Julian asks in a soft voice as he watches me. He looks so relaxed and content, I take a mental picture of him to have as a forever keepsake of the moment.
I smile shyly. “I’m thinking about what we just did and how skilled you are with this,” I reply, allowing my hand to dip beneath the covers to take hold of him.
Julian grunts in pleasure as I continue my gentle caress, but he doesn’t protest what I’m doing, so I don’t stop. Our eyes lock as I continue to fondle him, and I notice his lips part as his breathing becomes noticeably more labored.
“I hate to say this,” he says huskily, “but you’ll need to stop what you’re doing.”
“Why?” I ask in bewilderment because I know he’s enjoying my touch. The proof of his excitement is evident in my hand.
“Nadia and Viktor will be here in a couple of minutes,” he tells me, closing his eyes as he allows himself to enjoy the pleasure I’m giving him for a few seconds more. “I just heard the car turn onto the gravel driveway.”
“It’s not like they don’t already know what we’re doing in here,” I point out, not seeing their return as any reason to end our play. “I’m sure they can find somewhere else to go for a little while longer after they drop off everything they brought back.”
“You wouldn’t feel embarrassed making love up here while they’re downstairs?” he questions. “Neither of us are very shy when it comes to voicing our pleasure. They’ll hear us.”
“If the two of them are going to be around us for the rest of our lives, they’ll just have to learn to deal with it or find a place to scamper off to when we’re together. I don’t see any reason why we should hide what we’re doing. I’m not ashamed of it, are you?”
“Absolutely not,” he states. “In fact …”
Julian abruptly sits up in bed like something just bit him on the butt, forcing me to lose my grasp on him.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, finding his reaction alarming.
“We need to get dressed,” he replies, hastily throwing the covers off himself and standing from the bed to search for his discarded underwear and pants. He has to walk over to my side of the bed to retrieve his clothing from off the floor. When he picks them up, he looks at them in dismay and says, “They’re still a little damp, but they’re better than nothing I suppose.”
“Julian,” I say, feeling slightly bewildered by his behavior as I sit up in bed and hug the white quilt and sheet against my chest with one hand, “tell me what’s wrong. Why do we need to get dressed?”
“Your family is coming,” he tells me urgently as he steps into his underwear. “I can hear Pete, Susan, and Kaylee in a car following Nadia and Viktor here.”
I jump out of bed like it suddenly caught fire and run into the bathroom. Unfortunately, my clothes are still in a wet heap on the tiled floor in front of the vanity. I curse myself for not having the forethought to lay them out to dry for the last couple of hours. Now they’re not only wet, but hopelessly wrinkled too.
“Is something wrong with your clothes?” Julian asks as he comes to stand in the doorway of the bathroom buttoning his pants.
“I can’t wear these,” I say, holding up the wet garments with both hands. “It would just feel too icky for me.”
Julian grins as if he’s amused by my reasoning. “Why don’t you stay in here, and I’ll bring up the fresh clothes Nadia is supposed to have for you.”
I sigh in resignation because I know it’s the best plan we have. “They’ll know what we’ve been doing up here.”
“Does that upset you?” he asks, looking concerned.
I shake my head. “Not really. Kaylee and Susan will be thrilled, but Pete … well, you know how fathers can be.”
Julian walks over and gives me a brief kiss on the lips.
“As long as you’re happy, I don’t think he’ll mind too much.” Julian lifts his head as if he’s listening to something. “But I should go downstairs and put my shirt on before they come inside. They’re just now getting everything out of their cars. I’ll be back up in just a minute with your clothes.”
Julian uses his super speed to make it downstairs before the others walk into the house, managing to remember to close the bedroom door on his way out. A couple of minutes later, he walks in with a small black duffel bag and sets it on the foot of the bed.
“Nadia said she packed a couple of changes of clothes and some other things you might need.” Julian looks over at me as I huddle underneath the quilt on the bed. “Do you need help getting dressed?”
“You and I both know that if you try to help me, neither one of us will make it out of this room anytime soon.”
Julian chuckles. “All too true, I’m afraid. I guess I’ll meet you downstairs.” He turns to leave, but then snaps his fingers and spins back around as if he just remembered that he needs to tell me something else. “Kaylee asked me to tell you that they brought your favorite fried chicken from some place called Mee-Maw’s Restaurant. She also mentioned something about seasoned French fries.”
I immediately throw the quilt off me and begin to rummage around in the duffel bag for something to wear. I find my undergarments, a plain gray T-shirt, and a pair of jeans. Within thirty seconds flat, I’m dressed and heading for the door.
“Wow,” Julian says, looking impressed and more than a little shocked, “I had no idea you could move that fast.”
“There’s a pregnant woman in the house with Mee-Maw’s chicken,” I say, yanking the door open. “If I don’t get down there now, she might eat it all up before I even get a bite!”
As I race down the stairs, I hear Julian laughing as he follows behind me. It’s almost enough to make me stop and turn around to kiss him, but not quite. After two hours of making love, I’m ravenous. I just hope they bought enough chicken to satisfy my hunger.
“There she is!” Susan squeals when I enter the room. “It feels like forever since we saw you last.”
I love Susan, so I let her hug the stuffing out of me, even though all I want to do is shove a piece of fried chicken between my teeth to satisfy my hunger. The spicy aroma of the succulent meat practically has me drooling all over myself.
“I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long,” I apologize, hugging her back.
I know Susan will have to get used to me being away from home even more frequently in the coming years, but that’s something she probably already knows and is prepared for. I still can’t believe she and Pete have known about the alfar and vampires since before my parents died. It was definitely something I hadn’t counted on my father doing for me, but I’m eternally grateful that he prepared them for the changes that are about to take place. I’ll need their help and support, especially in the next few months as I attempt to adjust my life around my new responsibilities.
I also know there will be one more thing that I’ll have to do now that I’m being groomed to take Shael’s place as queen of the alfar one day. I’ll need to give up my teaching position at Pecan Acres Junior High School. Earning my degree and being able to teach eager young minds the wonders of biology has been one of my greatest accomplishments in life. I have no idea how I’m going to explain why I have to stop teaching to Kaylee without being forced to tell her everything that’s going on. Thankfully, Pete said he and Susan would help me deal with Kaylee’s reaction to it all, but that moment doesn’t have to be tonight. Right now, I just want to enjoy being with the people I love, and I’m lucky enough to have almost all of them in one room.
When Susan lets go of me, my eyes are immediately drawn to my sister. Her gaze seems to be shifting between me and Julian as she takes in our slightly disheveled appearances. A smile of realization graces her face as she picks up a tub of fried chicken from the kitchen island and holds it out in front of her like bait.
“Come and get it,” she tells me. “I know you want a piece. I can see the hunger in your eyes from here.”
I walk over and give her a kiss on the cheek before dipping my hand into the container and pulling out a crispy drumstick. I quickly take a bite of the crunchy skin and perfectly seasoned meat underneath. I let out a moan of pleasure that isn’t entirely appropriate considering the fact that everyone in the room knows what Julian and I were up to before they arrived, but it can’t be helped. The extraordinary taste of Mee-Maw’s chicken is definitely moan worthy.
“Who is this Mee-Maw?” Nadia asks, opening a large Styrofoam container on the kitchen island that holds the seasoned French fries.
