Final Days Read online

  “If we keep that up, dinner won’t happen. There will be no other choice. I’ll have you in a bed in minutes.” He drew a steadying breath, watched her do the same. Their eyes met again. “Is that what you want? Because I am one hundred percent okay with that choice.”

  Alisa stumbled as she stepped back with a hand on her chest to calm her racing heart. Talk about out of your comfort zone. He was asking her if she wanted to go somewhere and have sex with a perfect stranger. She looked back up at him again as he waited for her to answer him. That odd drive she’d felt at the first moment was stronger than ever. She needed to feel that spectacular man beneath her and inside her.

  Final journey. No limits. All in. So, no room for hesitation. She wanted this man.

  He could see it in her face, watched her tongue slide around her lips before she spoke. Hoped…

  “Let’s eat afterward. Please. Where’s the nearest room we can rent?” She said.

  Koen hesitated only a moment to be sure she really meant it. There was no doubt at all that she did.

  “Thank God,” he whispered, because he was already fully erect, trapped in his tight jeans.

  Taking her hand, he led her out of the restaurant, down the street about a hundred yards, around the corner of a narrow building, and up a flight of wooden stairs to a third floor apartment that belonged to his old friend who was spending the summer in America. He opened the door easily, flipped on a light switch and looked around. It was exactly as he remembered the last time he was here.

  Alisa’s eyes followed his. It was a nice little clean apartment with a big window facing the street. A tiny voice in her head asked her if this was wise, but the truly wise voice shut that one down quickly. She turned to the sound of his voice.

  “Would you like the lights left on?”

  “Are there candles?”

  “This belongs to an artist friend. I guarantee it.” Koen found a corner filled with candles and set them all around the large bed in the corner of the room. As was typical in these artist abodes, the bed was just a huge mattress on the floor, but Koen thought it was the perfect place for him to make love to this woman. Leaning across the bed to place a candle on the other side, he turned to her.

  Alisa stood in the center of the room, completely still for a few moments, looking at him stretched out on the bed. He was just so big. Sex appeal poured from him, his scent, his voice, how he moved. No more waiting.

  She lifted her tee shirt from the hem and dropped it on the floor. Koen stayed on the bed and watched. She kept her eyes on him, heard his breathing get heavier as she unsnapped the jeans to slowly peel them down.

  She stood there, more vulnerable than she’d ever been in her life because for some weird cosmic reason she really wanted this man to want her. Her strong confidence seemed to desert her for this moment. She held her hands out.

  “Still interested?” she asked.

  Koen watched this woman who came out of nowhere into his life, now nearly naked before him, asking him if he wanted her. Her beautiful breasts spilled over the lace-trimmed bra as he knew they would since the thin tee had barely hidden their fullness. She wore sensible panties, satin but cut high on her long legs. He didn’t care, he just wanted to tear them off her.

  “What is your name?” he asked softly.

  She took a deep breath. “Oh, of course. Alisa. It’s Alisa.”

  Koen came forward, forcing himself not to hyper speed her to the bed and beneath him.

  “Well, Alisa. My name is Koen. And I do not have words strong enough to tell you how unbelievably interested I am. You need to know you aren’t leaving here until I have made intense thorough love to you.”

  Alisa let out the breath she was holding in and walked towards him.

  “I don’t do this. Ever. I want you to know that. I don’t have any diseases.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought you would. It doesn’t matter. For you, though, I don’t either.”

  “It doesn’t matter for me. Just, give me a moment. It’s actually been a while since I was with someone.”

  “Oh, you’ll be ready,” he said, and lifted her in his arms.

  They were on the bed and she was naked before she realized. So was he. One second he’d scooped her up and the next he was kneeling on the bed, the candlelight illuminating a body as perfect as possible. Her eyes dropped lower. Fully erect, enormous, he was ready for her. Alisa wondered if he would fit, but she didn’t care. This man was going to be inside her tonight.

  He stretched out beside her and played with a long thick strand of hair that covered a nipple.

  “I’ve seen a lot of women over a lot of years. None of them have ever made me want them as badly as you have on sight. What magic do you weave, Alisa?”

  “No magic. I just saw you and wanted you. That hasn’t ever happened to me either. You’re damn perfect, you know that?”

  “Hardly. But I think you are. Here, let me see.”

  His lips curled around the nipple he’d uncovered, the strand abandoned beside it. His tongue moved ridiculously slowly, sensuously, around and around until Alisa knew this man was extraordinarily skilled. This night would be the memory she would hold onto until her last breath.

  A tear slipped out and she lifted a hand to wipe it away, then dropped the hand into his hair. Thick, soft, sexy as hell. She’d always loved the bad boy look. His was just on the edge. She pulled the band that kept his long hair back and laced her fingers through it.

  He groaned and rolled closer to move to the other breast. His hands were moving down, sliding across skin heightened with sensitivity. Alisa knew she would come before he even got inside her.

  Continuing down across her belly, the insides of her thighs, he moved back and forth between each side, nipping and licking. He ignored the center, the slit waiting for him twitched, spasms moving through her lower body. She was so hot now, so in need, she lifted up and grabbed his hair in her hands and pulled hard.

  Eventually he looked up.

  “I told you you’d be ready,” he whispered, and his tongue dived deep, driving her back, her hands now over her head, and twisting through some kind of metal sculpture on the wall behind the mattress. She’d been really right when she thought he was skilled. Oh, God, was he skilled!

  Koen’s tongue moved quickly to just the right places and forced her past impossible pleasure to an orgasm like she’d never known. He held her as she swung from the top of ecstasy back to earth, his thumbs caressing circles on the inside of her thighs as she dropped back onto the rough bedspread. Both were breathing hard. Alisa opened her eyes and thought she’d already died and gone to the sexiest heaven.

  She didn’t even try to stop the tears in her eyes as she spoke from her heart.

  “You are so beautiful. I wish you could be the last thing I see before I leave this earth.”

  He lifted his head. “You never know, my lady. Of course, that will be a very, very long time.”

  “Yes,” she said softly, “A very, very long time.”

  Rolling up on her knees, she tried to push him down.

  “My turn,” she said, her fingers curling around his rigid cock. He jerked, her touch electric.

  “No,” he said. “I want to feel you wrapped around me. I need to be inside you.”

  Pulling him to her, she kissed him again, and lingered.

  “Okay. But I want to be on top. Koen, let me ride you.”

  Yeah, that’s what he wanted too. He laid back, his hands around her small waist, and slid down between her thighs this time. Her eyes stayed on the engorged penis. She slid her fingers around it and moved them up and down, caressing and tugging.

  “I’ve never really considered how amazing this is.” She leaned down and nipped at him. Koen grabbed her thighs to hold her as he jerked upward. Alisa smiled.

  She lifted up and slid herself down over the head of his penis, but only the head, then lifted back up, over and over.

  His fangs popped and he growled. More than a
nything he wanted to drive into her and drink from her. But she had no idea what he was and he did not want to use compulsion. Not on her. Never on her. Their connection already felt sacred, even at the beginning like this.

  Alisa threw her head back and laughed.

  “You growled! Oh, now I think you’re going to have to wait a little longer.”

  “I growled because I want to get deep inside you. I won’t hurt you if you’re worried. You can take me.”

  Alisa leaned down, kissed him, then whispered, “I plan to.”

  She plunged down, taking him exactly as he asked, deep inside, slick and tight. Koen reached for her, but she sat astride him like he was a horse and rode him until he, too, exploded like he never had before. Just as he shot into her, she was swept into another orgasm stronger than the last.

  Both felt an odd sensation spread through them and for a moment, Alisa was shocked to feel as if she was out of body, yet tethered somehow to Koen. A connection that seemed to extend beyond the physical.

  She collapsed, her weight light against the big man. When she rolled off of him to curve against his side, he moaned and pulled her close. Her womanhood ached, but in the amazing way it did after it got what it was made for.

  Koen rolled onto his side and reached for her.

  “That beat the hell out of steak,” Alisa said.

  “That beat the hell out of everything,” he responded. He curved his hand around the back of her head and kissed her again.

  “I can’t get enough of you. You lied to me. You’re a witch and you’ve ensnared me with your magic.”

  “You were an easy mark. No woman could have said no to all this.”

  She ran a hand down his chest.

  Koen moaned, and slid his hand down to cup her buttocks.

  Now Alisa moaned. “Just your touch turns me on. I think it is you who have used magic on me. I’m the girl at nightclubs men usually refer to as an ice queen.”

  Her eyes were serious.

  “Really, Koen, it means a lot to me that you know how special this was.”

  He’d felt something at one point tonight, he didn’t know what. Sadness? Something just not quite right. But their joining had been so perfect he knew it wasn’t this unexpected intimacy. He felt it again now as he watched a soft smile on her lips, but pain in her gaze. He brushed her hair back and looked into those sorrowful eyes.

  “What’s wrong, beautiful? Whatever it is, let me fix it for you.”

  Her smile widened.

  “God, that was the perfect thing to say. Why did I have to meet you now? When it’s too late?” She shook her head, her hair sliding over her shoulders. “I’m sorry. Thank you for offering. But everything is okay. I’ve just realized this moment that it’s all going to be okay. That everything is happening as it is supposed to. And you have been the most spectacular surprise. I won’t forget you.”

  He knew it was a goodbye. And he knew he wouldn’t accept it. For whatever reason, this woman had suddenly become very important to him and it wasn’t just the sex. The sex had been the best of his life, but part of that was because of an intangible connection between them from the moment their eyes met tonight. He’d never believed in love at first sight, or destiny, but he honestly felt that this night was evidence he was wrong.

  “Alisa, stay with me. I can’t be here with you tomorrow, but I’ll be back tomorrow night. Will you stay here in this apartment until then?”

  She shook her head.

  “I can’t. I’m traveling and I have a flight out in the morning. It’s okay. We had a night of pure erotic pleasure. Koen, I’ve never felt anything like this before. Those orgasms…believe me when I say that is not typical for me. You are a very skilled man.”

  “There’s more to our lovemaking than skill. Change your plans. I’ll make sure I surpass everything we did tonight. Please. Stay.”

  “I would love to. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do in this world right now than to spend the next few weeks making love with you. But it isn’t possible.”

  It wasn’t. With this connection they had, she couldn’t risk him getting attached to a dying woman.

  “There is nothing more important. Is it a job?” He clenched his teeth. “Another man?” He felt possessive towards her although he knew he had no right.

  “No! Oh, Koen, no. I meant it when I told you it had been a long time since I last had sex. I’m so grateful we met.”

  That calmed down the beast that threatened to rise inside. Vampires were very protective of their women. It still shocked him that he was having these feelings for a woman he just met. Yet he couldn’t deny it. He wanted her and nothing was going to keep her from him. Was it forever? He didn’t know. He just knew that right now, he needed her close.

  “Whatever the reason, I will take care of it. I will fix it. You will stay.”

  To make his point, he pulled her to him and kissed her so erotically, heat and moisture surged again.

  Without words, she made it clear they were not finished. Pushing him back against the bed, she slid down his legs, her hands trailing against the thickest muscled thighs she’d ever seen. As she moved down, her eyes dropped to his cock and she looked back up at him.

  “Wow. Just…wow.” She paused and took him in her hand, her fingers moving across the head as he groaned. “I think that word covers it. Believe me, if I could stay, I would. Now, though…”

  She lowered her head and began an aggressive attack with her tongue that created an explosive reaction from him very quickly. How satisfying to bring such an impressive man so much pleasure. Just to hear the moan as his body responded to her.

  When she crawled back into his arms, he kissed her hair and sighed in satisfaction as he fell asleep.

  Alisa caressed his chest while she listened to him breathe. She wondered how sorrow and absolute joy could exist side by side. As she finally fell asleep, she thought that she could have fallen in love with this man. If time had allowed.

  She woke slowly to the unfamiliar touch of someone’s lips on hers. It only took a second to remember her night with Koen…their incredible lovemaking, and that she was in bed with him. Still groggy from being awakened, she smiled as she heard his deep voice in the darkness.

  “I have to go. You’ll stay, won’t you? You have to stay.”

  His voice was so beautiful, she knew she’d miss it forever.

  “I’ll stay,” she whispered. She wanted to please him more than anything on earth.

  Koen put his hand on her cheek, bent close, and whispered, “Sleep. I will see you tonight.”

  She sighed in contentment and rolled onto her side. He took one last look at her perfect face before he eased up off the mattress and let himself out of the room, locking it behind him to keep her safe. He was racing the coming day as he headed back to Eillia’s apartment to seal himself inside one of her protected rooms.

  He made it just as vermillion streaks lit up the horizon.

  But sleep eluded him because, unexpectedly, his arms felt empty and he missed her beside him. He needed to hear her breathing. He needed to feel her soft hair in his fingers. And those full breasts pressed against his chest. What the hell? This was ridiculous. He refused to believe she meant that much to him already. It didn’t make it any less true.

  Daylight had arrived and the need to rest overcame his problem sleeping. His eyes dropped, the final image before he lost consciousness was of blue eyes that belonged to the woman he now knew belonged to him.

  SEVEN

  Staring at the blank paper that needed to say so much, Alisa considered what words she would leave behind. It was important that he understood what this night, being with him, meant to her.

  She began to write, and when she was finished, she laid the note carefully in the center of the bed, then dropped on the floor beside it.

  She’d spent her life coming and going. Leaving a place came naturally to her. But not here, not now. This was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She knew th
e one thing facing her that would be harder was leaving this life so much sooner than she should. Today was the first exit that hurt. The next one would be the last.

  Alisa pushed herself up, grabbed her large bag and paused to look at her note to Koen one last time. She’d told him that every day for the rest of her life she would think of him. He wouldn’t know it wasn’t for that many more days. For a moment, she considered telling him why. But last night was not about sorrow. It had been about joy and love found in an unexpected place. She wanted it to remain so for him. And for her. There would be no tears or regrets. So she kept her imminent departure from this life a secret from him forever. It was the best choice.

  Closing the door with a loud snap, she walked down the wooden stairs and did not look back.

  She knew how he would feel when he opened that door. He’d look for her, then see the note. He’d know she was gone. She knew how he would feel because her own emotions welled up and threatened to send her back in to wait for him in spite of her conviction to go. But she really had no decision to make. Her destiny was set and it couldn’t include him.

  The universe had provided her with a glimpse of the future she might have had. Was it kindness or cruelty that it had done so? To show her this possible future…the moment when the spark of love begins, when two souls find each other. To let her peek at him, and know he was the man she never knew she waited for. Aware all along it could only be that…a peek.

  Vicious fates! But then she smiled as she cleared the stairs, her head filled with him. No. It was not cruel. She had been given a glimpse of perfect love, and it would be a precious memory she would hold close as her days counted down to the last. Alisa knew she would never forget one split second of their time, locked in her mind like an image under glass. From the moment she looked up into his eyes to the moment he paused as he went out the door last night, a look of mischief on his face, her promise that she would be here when he returned. Every touch, every taste, every scent, scored into her mind for all her remaining time.