Page 64 of Don't Bite the Botanist
“Oh. Interesting.”
He hadn’t given any thought to what superpower he wanted when she mentioned the whole Lilith’s Gift thing, but… healing was pretty cool, right? He chuckled softly to himself. Of course it was. He’d be weeping over Tressa’s corpse if it wasn’t for his Gift.
“Thank you” he whispered to the ceiling, even though that single phrase would never come close to how grateful he felt that Tressa was alive.
Or unalive. He really needed to have that conversation.
“You’re thanking the wrong entity,” Tressa said with an amused twinkle in her eyes. “But we’ll go over that. I’ll go over everything with you. No more secrets. Ever. That is, if you’ll let me help you.”
“Of course, I’ll let you,” he said, pulling her back into his arms. “I told you, I’m so sorry for what I said. I reacted harshly. But never again. I’m here with you, Tressa. Until you get bored of me.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of you, Ethan. You definitely keep me on my toes.”
He kissed her then, his tongue tentatively prodding at her lips for entry, which she promptly granted him. “Fuck,” he moaned when he finally pulled back. “How do you taste even better now?”
She grinned. “That’s all part of being a vampire. We’ll get to that.”
“I look forward to it,” he said solemnly, before a wicked smirk curled up the corner of his lip. “But in the meantime, I think I’d like to just take a second to enjoy.”
He dragged her back in for another kiss. A longer one. A deeper one. His tongue swept into her mouth, tasting just a hint of copper at the corner of her lips, but mostly his senses were suffused with bubblegum and vanilla. He was pretty sure he had just ruined his favorite desert forever, because nothing, not even that amazing stuff Tressa introduced him to, would ever taste a fraction as good as her now that his vampire senses could pick up every nuance of her scent.
Right on cue, as if the near death of his woman never happened, his cock responded to the feel of her in his arms, growing hard in seconds. She always affected him strongly, but he didn’t know if he’d ever gone from flaccid to firm quite so fast before. Was that a vampire perk? Super cock?
He jerked away from Tressa and ran a hand through his hair, willing his nether regions to take a chill pill.
“What’s wrong?” Tressa asked, leaning back in to nuzzle her nosealong his neck.
He allowed himself to enjoy her touch for a minute, then took her by the shoulders and pressed her back gently. He couldn’t think straight when her skin was touching his. “I’m sorry, but you taste too good, and I’m not…”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Not what?”
He groaned and not-so-subtly adjusted himself. “I’m not sure I can stop myself from fucking you like a wild animal. Your scent is everywhere, Tressa, and my whole body craves you like a drug.”
She settled her thighs on either side of his hips and grinned. “So where’s the bad?” she asked.
“You just came back from the dead!” he protested, his hands landing on her hips because he couldn’t bring himself to push her away again. “I can’t be rutting into you like a damn animal.”
“Ethan,” Tressa purred as she sank deeper into his lap and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Your Gift is all new territory for me, but it must be pretty damn powerful because I feel fine. In fact… I think I would like a little rutting. Might be just what the doctor ordered.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You think so?”
She grinned. “Oh yeah. I would very much like you to fuck me right here, right now. Come on, Dr. Rose, let’s take your new vamp body for a test drive.”
“Hell yes,” he panted, not even registering the silly nickname because everything in his head went blank after ‘fuck me.’
He jumped to his feet and hauled her up to his chest, kissing her passionately. She was a slice of paradise in his arms, and she was all his. Not even the sticky red substance coating her skin was a turn off. If he was being honest, it was kind of the opposite…
He ran his hand through the blood on her chest, drawing a red streak across one luscious breast. He held the finger up, then lookedover to Tress.
“Is this… Should I…”
“Vampire blood isn’t as delicious as human, and it won’t do much for you in terms of keeping you running,” she explained, “but think of it like decaf coffee. Your body doesn’t get any benefit, but the smell might make you crave it anyway.” When he continued to eye the red smear on his pointer finger, she added, “You’re welcome to try it. If you want.”
Ethan lapped up the trace of blood. It wasn’t exactly ambrosia, but he could see the appeal. He let the taste linger a bit, and the allure grew stronger.
As he worked his tongue around his mouth to further evaluate this very new experience, it grazed over the sharp fangs that had emerged from underneath his gums.
Fangs. He had fangs now.
