Chapter Nine

                Natalie woke up, slightly confused and disoriented.  This wasn't her room.  But remembrance quickly returned to her.  She was at the loft, in Nick's bed, with his arm wrapped around her, snuggled up tight against the curve of his body.  This was a nice way to wake up.  It would have been even nicer had certain events occurred last night, but she would take what she could get.  She turned her head slightly and met Nick's smiling blue eyes.

                Nick knew the exact moment that she had woken up.  He wished he could wake up this way every morning.  Natalie was beautiful while she slept, absolutely angelic.  "Good morning," he said quietly before gently kissing her.

                Natalie, in her flannel pajamas, quickly deepened the chaste kiss.  She wanted his body so bad right then.  Almost without her own volition, she turned completely to face him as her hands explored his silk-clad body.  She swirled her tongue around his fangs that were aching to drop down, and quickly realized she had found one of the erogenous areas of a vampire as he moaned into her mouth.

                His hands traveled up under her flannel nightshirt, caressing her silky skin.  In the back of his mind, he knew he should stop, that he was going to hurt her.  As his fangs slid down and his eyes turned golden, he tore away from her.

                "Nat…" he panted.  "We can't…"

                She silenced him, stroking the bulge in his silk pajama pants.  "Nick, I trust you.  I know you won't hurt me.  Trust yourself."

                He couldn't resist her lure, having wanted her body for so long.  All his defenses crumbled and he gave himself into the feeling.  He would stop, he would.  The love in her blood would make him regain control of the vampire.  Nick greedily fastened his mouth back over hers.  He gave himself into the feeling of her hands and prayed she was right.

~~~~@

                A completely naked Natalie smiled as she cuddled in Nick's arms.  "See?  I told you that you'd stop."  She still reveled in the afterglow.  That was the best sex she had ever had.  There were definitely some advantages to making love to a vampire.  When he had taken her blood, she knew that he would get images and feelings from her, but she never imagined that she would receive the same from him.  Being able to actually feel his love for her had led her to the most powerful orgasm she had ever felt.  And now she knew how he truly felt, just how afraid of hurting her he was.

                Nick brushed a lock of sweaty hair off her face and dropped a light kiss on her mouth.  It was the unconditional love she felt for him that had allowed him to stop, to shove the vampire back down deep inside of him as the earth-shattering orgasm exploded through him.  But did her love allow him to overcome the vampire, or did the vampire allow him to overcome it because it wanted to save a part of the tasty snack for later?

                "Do you have any idea of how dangerous that was?" he asked her quietly, already feeling guilty inside for allowing himself to succumb to her ministrations.  Catching sight of the fang marks on her neck caused a fresh wave of guilt to wash through him.

                Natalie smiled and pulled his head down for another kiss.  "You didn't seem to be resisting all that much."

                "Seriously, Nat."  He pulled back from her, making her look him in the eye.  If she had been wrong…  He could not believe how weak his resistance skills were to her charm.  Hell, whom was he kidding?  He had no resistance skills when it came to Natalie.  He had crumbled at the first sign of her wanting more.

                Natalie reached up and caressed his cheek.  "Yes, I did.  As far as I knew, I was signing my own death warrant."  She stopped to smile lecherously.  "But it was certainly worth it.  Are you telling me that you would take it all back?" She was going stiff and self-righteous.

                "No!" he immediately said, putting the hand that he wasn't leaning on over her hand that was still on his cheek, and moving it so he could kiss her palm.  "But promise me, if ever I can't stop, that you'll come back for me.  Please," he begged her, letting her see the fear in his eyes.

                "Of course I will."  Natalie pulled his head down to kiss him again.  Nick was reluctant at first, but as her hands ran over his naked body, he opened his mouth to her and started a thrusting rhythm with his tongue.

                Natalie broke away for a moment.  "I certainly hope you don't have to go into work today," she said with a gleam in her eye.